LIBRARY 

ONIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
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z 


SCENES  FROM  THE  COURT 
OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 


HISTORICAL  MINIATURES 

A  Series  of  Monographs 
Edited  by  Dr.  F.  L.  Glaser 


VOL.  I  — SCENES  FROM  THE 

COURT  OF  PETER 

THE  GREAT 

Based    on    the    Latin  Diary    of   F. 

Korb,    a    secretary    of  the    Austrian 

Legation   at  the  Court  of  Peter   the 
Great. 


VOL.      II  — POPE     ALEXANDER 
VI  AND  HIS  COURT 

Based    on    the    Diary    of   Johannes 
Burchardus  — /n  preparation. 


Scenes  from  the  Court 
of  Peter  the  Great 

Based  on  the  Latin  Diary  of  John  G.  Korb, 

a  Secretary  of  the  Austrian  Legation 

at  the  Court  of  Peter  the  Great 


Edited  by 

Dr,  f.  l.  glaser 


NICHOLAS  L.   BROWN 
NEW  YORK  MCMXXl 


COPTRIGHT,    1921 
BY 

NICHOLAS  L.  BROWN 


INTRODUCTION 


INTRODUCTION 

Two  years  before  the  birth  of  Peter  Alexiewlcz, 
better  known  to  the  world  as  Peter  the  Great  and 
first  Emperor  of  Russia,  the  ancient  Kremlin  of 
Moscow  beheld  a  strange  sight.  Young  maidens, 
the  loveliest  of  the  realm,  drawn  from  every  province 
and  every  class,  entered  the  palace  of  the  Czar  on  a 
day  appointed.  Assembled  there  in  the  cramped 
quarters  allotted  for  their  use,  they  spent  their  time 
in  the  manner  of  Muscovite  womanhood  of  that  age, 
their  cloistered  existence  varied  by  some  manual  task 
relieved  with  song  and  tale.  At  nightfall  the  weary 
hours  were  forgotten  and  tense  expectancy  reigned, 
for  every  maiden  knew  that  she  was  a  pawn  in  a 
lottery  and  that  the  prize  was  supreme  rank.  When 
darkness  came  figures  passed  through  the  dormitories 
exchanging  significant  words  and  gestures  as  they 
examined  the  sleepers.  The  Czar  Alexis  Mihailowicz 
himself  accompanied  by  his  doctor  was  seeking  a 
wife  among  these  unknown  beauties,  "  the  woman," 
as  the  time-honored  formula  had  it,  "  worthy  to  be 
the  Sovereign's  delight,"  perchance  the  daughter  of 
the  meanest  serf  who  might  at  his  word  become  the 
Czarina  of  all  the  Russias. 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

This  custom,  borrowed  like  so  many  other  Rus- 
sian traditions  from  the  Byzantines,  and  maintained 
through  centuries,  had  proved  a  useful  device  to 
escape  the  jealousy  of  noble  families  at  home  and 
the  humiliation  of  rejection  by  foreign  dynasties,  by 
no  means  eager  at  that  time  to  bestow  their  prin- 
cesses upon  the  uncouth  Czars  of  Russia.  Thus  the 
custom  had  become  definitely  established  and  pre- 
ceded the  betrothal  of  every  Czar.  The  minutiae  of 
etiquette  were  strictly  observed  in  this  proceeding. 
Ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  court  were  deputed  to 
examine  the  young  girls  who  journeyed  to  Moscow 
in  answer  to  the  call  of  the  Czar.  Their  inspection 
was  exacting  and  severe,  extending  to  the  most  in- 
timate details,  and  resulted  in  the  selection  of  the 
finest  specimen  for  presentation  to  the  Czar. 

This  time,  however,  in  1670,  the  hopes  of  the  fair 
candidates  were  doomed  to  disappointment,  for  the 
Czar's  choice  had  already  been  made  before  their 
arrival  in  the  Kremlin.  Alexis,  now  thirty-eight 
years  of  age,  had  lost  his  first  wife,  of  the  family 
of  Miloslavski,  three  years  before.  Of  the  five  sons 
and  eight  daughters  whom  she  had  borne  him  three 
sons  were  already  dead  and  two  were  sickly.  A  sec- 
ond marriage  was  therefore  desirable.  Alexis,  while 
concerned  with  this  serious  question,  met  in  the  house 
of  his  minister,  Artamon  MatveiefF,  a  beautiful 
brunette,  Nathalia  Nariskine,  who  had  been  brought 
up  there  in  the  atmosphere  of  western  European  cul- 


INTRODUCTION  ii 

ture  and  freedom.  Alexis'  choice  fell  upon  Nathalia, 
but  before  she  could  become  his  second  wife  she  was 
compelled  to  undergo  the  traditional  ordeal  of  the 
Kremlin. 

Of  this  marriage  Peter  I.,  called  "  the  Great,"  was 
born  on  June  9  (N.  S.),  1672,  although  no  less  an 
authority  than  Peter  himself  has  thrown  doubt  on 
his  paternity.  Contrary  to  all  the  legends  of  his 
extraordinary  precocity,  history  records  that  Peter 
was  a  singularly  backward  child.  He  was  over  two 
years  old  when  he  was  weaned,  and  in  his  eleventh 
year  still  enjoyed  playing  with  wooden  horses.  At 
that  age  he  had  barely  learned  to  spell  out  the  re- 
ligious books  on  which  the  children  of  the  Czars 
were  brought  up.  During  his  early  years  Peter  was 
surrounded  by  intrigues  and  rebellions,  and  his  elec- 
tion as  Czar  in  1682  under  the  regency  of  his  half- 
sister  Sophia  was  but  a  signal  for  a  fresh  revolt. 
More  than  once  he  had  barely  eluded  the  grasp  of 
death.  One  of  his  uncles  was  dragged  from  the 
palace  and  killed  before  his  eyes.  Artamon  Mat- 
veiefF  was  hacked  to  pieces  as  he  caught  the  sleeve  of 
the  little  Czar  in  a  vain  endeavor  to  find  protection 
from  a  savage  mob.  It  is  to  such  experiences,  which 
played  havoc  with  the  nerves  of  the  young  boy,  that 
the  convulsions  may  be  ascribed  from  which  Peter 
suffered  in  later  years. 

When  Sophia  attempted  in  1689  to  usurp  the 
title  and  power  of  autocrat,  Peter,  now  seventeen, 


X  INTRODUCTION 

supported  by  the  foreign  clement,  openly  broke  with 
her,  deprived  her  of  her  power  and  consigned  her  to 
the  safe  isolation  of  a  nunnery.  This  coup,  while 
successful,  did  not  greatly  enhance  the  authority  of 
the  young  Czar,  who  postponed  a  decisive  conflict 
with  the  reactionary  element  and  frequented  the  so- 
ciety of  foreigners.  Eager  for  information  and 
susceptible  to  new  impressions  he  already  showed 
indications  of  that  energy  and  elasticity  of  mind 
which  later  distinguished  him.  This  was  the  period 
of  Peter's  first  marriage  with  Eudoxia  Lapukine 
whom  he  deserted  again  soon  afterward.  His  chief 
associates  at  this  time  were  Fran9ois  Lefort,  a  clever 
and  jovial  adventurer  of  French-Swiss  extraction, 
and  the  Scotch  royalist  refugee  Patrick  Gordon. 
From  them  he  learned  the  methods  of  European 
tactics  and  strategy,  and  soon  felt  sufficient  confi- 
dence to  undertake  campaigns  in  Southern  Russia. 
These  expeditions  were  under  the  direction  of  his 
military  mentors,  but  their  plans  were  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  Bombardier  of  the  Preobrashensky 
regiment,  none  other  than  Peter  himself,  who  had  en- 
tered his  own  army  in  the  lowest  rank. 

In  the  spring  of  1697  Peter  left  Russia  for  west- 
ern Europe  with  a  mission  whose  ostensible  purpose 
was  the  consolidation  of  alliances  against  the  Turks 
but  whose  real  aim  was  to  afford  Peter  an  opportun- 
ity to  observe  conditions  in  western  Europe,  and 
satisfy    his    thirst    for    practical    knowledge.     At 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

Koenigsberg  he  learned  the  science  of  gunnery  from 
the  famous  engineer  Streitner  of  Sternfeld.  At 
Lejden  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  celebrated 
anatomist  Boerhove.  While  residing  in  Holland  he 
studied  mathematics  and  astronomy,  the  science  of 
fortification  and  even  dentistry.  But  ship-building 
was  now  as  ever  his  main  passion.  In  his  earlier 
years  he  had  superintended  the  construction  of  ships 
on  a  little  lake  near  Moscow,  participating  In  the 
work  himself.  Now  he  studied  shipbuilding  In  Hol- 
land and  was  proud  of  his  certificate  of  proficiency 
in  naval  architecture. 

Peter's  foreign  tour  was  brought  to  an  abrupt 
conclusion  after  an  absence  of  a  year  and  a  half.  At 
the  moment  that  he  was  making  preparations  to  go 
to  Venice  he  was  suddenly  recalled  to  his  capital  by 
the  revolt  of  the  Strelitz  or  sharpshooters,  a  mercen- 
ary bodyguard  organized  by  Ivan  the  Terrible.  Al- 
though the  rebellion  never  seriously  threatened 
Peter's  throne  and  the  revolting  regiments  were 
beaten  on  their  approach  to  Moscow  within  an  hour's 
time  by  the  Czar's  loyal  army,  of  which  only  one 
man  was  mortally  wounded,  the  captive  rebels  were 
treated  with  unheard-of  cruelty.  From  the  mid- 
dle of  September  to  the  end  of  October,  1698,  ban- 
quets and  di'inklng  bouts  alternated  with  torturings 
and  executions  in  which  the  Czar  and  his  favorites 
played  the  parts  of  inquisitors  and  headsmen.  At 
least  a  thousand  of  the  captive  Strelitz  were  done  to 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

death  during  those  two  months  with  every  refinement 
of  cruelty,  and  the  hideous  tragedy  reached  its 
climax  on  October  17th  when  the  Czar,  surveying  the 
scene  on  horseback,  commanded  his  favorites  and 
ministers  to  decapitate  a  number  of  the  unfortunates 
who  had  already  been  mangled  by  repeated  tortures. 

The  aim  of  Peter,  however,  was  not  alone  to  wreak 
vengeance  on  traitors  but  to  frighten  the  masses  of 
the  people  who  sympathized  with  them  as  upholders 
of  Muscovite  traditions  against  the  reforms  and  the 
introduction  of  western  European  customs  which 
Peter  undertook  with  great  vigor  after  his  return, 
starting  immediately  with  cutting  off  the  beards  and 
long  frocks  of  his  subjects.  The  terrified  people 
submitted  to  him  grudgingly,  and  the  last  feeble  at- 
tempt at  revolt,  which  was  connected  with  the  name 
of  Alexius  Petrowicz,  Peter's  son  by  his  marriage 
with  Eudoxia,  was  suppressed  by  the  Czar  with  even 
greater  cruelty  which  included  the  torturing  to  death 
of  Alexius.  Historians  have  not  unjustly  com- 
mented that  Peter  the  Great  deliberately  cemented 
the  foundations  of  his  Empire  with  the  blood  of  his 
son. 

Three  years  after  the  death  of  his  son  Peter  was 
acclaimed  as  "  the  Father  of  the  Fatherland,  Peter 
the  Great  and  Emperor  of  All  Russia  '*  at  the  cele- 
bration of  the  peace  of  Nystadt  by  which  Sweden 
surrendered  the  hegemony  of  the  north  to  Russia. 
Thus  ended  Peter's  struggle  with  one  of  the  strong- 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

est  military  powers  of  Europe.  He  had  entered 
the  conflict  with  an  army  which  firmly  believed  that 
every  Swedish  soldier  had  a  devil  behind  him  to  point 
his  musket  and  make  him  invulnerable,  a  superstition 
which  made  the  Russian  soldiers  run  in  numbers  at 
the  first  sight  of  a  handful  of  Swedes.  Such  were 
the  men  Peter  led  to  victory  and  such  was  the  enemy 
he  taught  them  to  beat. 

His  labors,  however,  as  well  as  his  excesses  had 
already  undermined  his  iron  constitution  and  though 
not  yet  fifty-three  years  of  age,  he  was  already  an 
old  man.  During  the  summer  of  1724  the  state  of 
Peter's  health  caused  grave  anxiety  and  in  autumn 
he  had  another  violent  attack  of  his  paroxysms. 
Ignoring  the  advice  of  his  physicians  he  undertook 
an  arduous  tour  of  inspection  and  visited  some  of 
his  iron  mines,  even  digging  out  with  his  own  hands 
a  piece  of  iron  ore  weighing  120  pounds.  In  the 
beginning  of  November,  at  Lakhta,  seeing  a  boat 
grounded  on  a  shoal,  loaded  with  soldiers  in  imminent 
danger  of  being  drowned,  he  plunged  into  the  water 
to  go  to  their  rescue  and  stayed  immersed  for  a 
considerable  time.  He  returned  to  St.  Petersburg 
dangerously  ill  and  after  a  protracted  and  painful 
agony  he  died  on  the  evening  of  February  8  (N.  S.), 
1725,  in  the  arms  of  his  second  wife,  the  Empress 
Catherine.  Of  his  last  message  scribbled  on  a  sheet 
of  paper  two  words  only  were  legible :  "  Forgive 
everything." 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

The  importance  of  the  "  Diary  '*  published  in  this 
volume  may  be  estimated  from  the  foregoing  sketch 
of  Peter's  life.  Johann  Gcorg  Korb,  the  author, 
was  the  secretary  to  the  Austrian  Envoy  who  was 
sent  by  the  Emperor  Leopold  I.  to  Moscow  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  reporting  on  the  operations  of 
the  Russian  armies  against  the  Turks,  but  with  the 
real  mission  of  intervening  on  behalf  of  the  Jesuit 
missionaries  in  Russia.  The  Austrian  Envoy 
started  on  his  journey  on  the  10th  of  January  1698, 
arrived  on  the  29th  of  April,  and  left  Moscow  again 
more  than  a  year  later.  The  observations  of  the 
secretary  thus  cover  a  period  embracing  the  second 
half  of  1698  and  the  earlier  part  of  1699  and  reveal 
to  us  the  real  reign  of  Peter.  A  few  months  after 
the  arrival  of  the  Austrian  Envoy  in  Moscow  the 
young  Czar  returned  from  his  foreign  tour,  which 
had  been  interrupted  by  the  revolt  of  the  Strelitz, 
to  sit  in  judgment  on  this  last  serious  rebellion 
against  him  and  to  start  immediately  afterwards  on 
his  rude  regime  of  reckless  reforms  of  which  we  find 
traces  on  almost  every  page  of  this  diary. 

The  young  official  who  noted  down  these  impres- 
sions during  a  year's  residence  in  Moscow  was 
scarcely  two  years  older  than  the  Czar,  having  been 
born  in  1670,  but  his  insight  into  the  Czar's  char- 
acter is  remarkable,  and  we  find  here  and  there  the 
most  curious  observations  of  the  Czar's  complex 
character, —  corroborated  by  the  testimony  of  other 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

eyewitnesses  in  later  years.  For  among  all  the 
peculiar  personalities  which  have  been  called  upon 
to  rule  over  human  beings  Peter  was  one  of  the  most 
abnormal  and  remarkable.  Neuropathic,  if  not  by 
inheritance  then  through  the  experiences  of  his  early 
youth,  Peter  spent  his  brief  maturity  between  rest- 
less work  and  reckless  excesses  of  so  violent  a  char- 
acter that  his  companions  of  a  weaker  constitution 
succumbed  at  an  earlier  age  than  he.  His  gigantic 
deformity  of  character  alone  in  fact  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  earn  for  Peter  the  title  of  "  the  Great." 
The  personality  of  this  astonishing  man  was  com- 
posed of  many  elements,  horny-handed  woodcutter, 
unrivalled  organizer,  madman  in  his  pleasures  and 
criminal  in  his  passions.  Wastefulness  and  stingi- 
ness were  strangely  combined  in  him.  For  many 
years  he  elected  to  live  in  a  low  wooden  cottage  at 
Preobashensko  while  his  favorites  were  building 
palaces  for  themselves,  and  he  would  use  the  mathe- 
matical instruments,  which  never  left  his  person,  to 
measure  the  daily  consumption  of  cheese  at  his  table, 
while  to  compensate  for  the  poor  wages  of  his  cook 
he  turned  the  meals  to  which  he  invited  his  friends 
into  picnics  at  a  ducat  a  head. 

In  his  intercourse  with  foreign  diplomats  he 
worked  on  a  system  of  his  own,  combining  Slavic 
shrewdness  with  Oriental  cunning.  He  threw  the 
negotiators  off  their  guard  in  a  manner  peculiar  to 
himself  by  unexpected  acts  of  familiarity  or  rude- 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

ness,  by  sudden  caresses  or  insults.  He  would  in- 
terrupt a  speaker  by  kissing  him  on  the  brow,  he 
would  make  long  speeches,  intended  for  the  gallery, 
of  which  his  hearer  could  not  understand  a  word,  and 
would  then  dismiss  them  before  they  had  time  to  ask 
for  an  explanation. 

Other  peculiarities  of  Peter's  were  no  less  bizarre. 
After  his  return  from  Holland  he  always  carried  a 
case  of  surgical  instruments  about  with  him,  and 
never  let  slip  an  opportunity  of  using  them,  to  the 
bad  fortune  of  his  patients.  A  bag  full  of  teeth  ex- 
tracted by  him  was  preserved  until  recently  in  the 
Museum  of  Arts  at  Petrograd.  Many  of  them 
are  in  perfect  condition  and  were  so  when  he  ex- 
tracted them.  His  valet  complained  to  him  one  day 
that  his  wife,  under  the  pretext  of  a  bad  tooth,  had 
long  refused  to  perform  her  conjugal  duties.  Peter 
sent  for  the  unfortunate  lady,  operated  on  her  then 
and  there  in  spite  of  her  tears  and  screams,  and 
warned  her  that  if  she  continued  obdurate  he  would 
pull  out  every  tooth  in  her  two  jaws.  His  own  wife, 
later  the  Empress  Catherine  I.,  fared  little  better. 
During  a  visit  to  a  museum  in  her  company  he  was 
a^ttracted  to  a  figure  of  a  pagan  god,  one  of  those 
with  which  the  Greeks  and  Romans  frequently 
adorned  the  nuptial  chamber.  Peter  beckoned  to  his 
wife  and  commanded  her  to  kiss  the  figure.  When 
she  objected  he  shouted,  "  Kop  ab!"  (Head  off!) 
the    implication    of   which   was   unmistakeable.     He 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

then  requested  that  the  object  kissed  by  the  Czarina 
should  be  presented  to  him.  His  curiosity  often  as- 
sumed strange  forms.  When  the  Czarina,  Martha 
Apraxin,  Theodore's  widow,  died  in  1715  at  the  age 
of  fifty-one,  he  insisted  on  performing  the  autopsy 
upon  the  corpse  with  his  own  hands. 

Extraordinary  as  was  his  conduct  in  serious  mat- 
ters, he  was  a  complete  buffoon  in  his  pleasures. 
The  "jolly  company"  of  his  earlier  years  he  or- 
ganized into  a  sort  of  mock  hierarchy  in  whose  so- 
ciety he  found  relief  from  his  overstrained  nerves  in 
amusements  which  inevitably  degenerated  into  orgies. 
Masquerades  were  a  favorite  pastime  at  the  courts 
of  that  period,  but  Peter's  feasts  with  sham  cardinals 
and  mock  monks  where  crosses  made  of  long  Dutch 
pipes  were  worshipped  and  the  nuptials  of  old  men 
and  women  made  drunk  were  celebrated  in  public, 
were  entirely  of  his  own  invention.  Here  his  prone- 
ness  to  exaggeration  displayed  itself  without  inhibi- 
tion, and  he  lavished  on  all  sides  the  most  absurd 
drolleries,  the  most  startling  obscenities  and  un- 
heard-of profanities.  His  friend,  Peter  Ivanowicz 
Boutourlin,  he  appointed  Archbishop  of  St.  Peters- 
burg "  in  the  diocese  of  drunkards,  gluttons  and 
madmen."  Others  he  called  kings  and  kaisers,  while 
he  himself  in  his  favorite  costume  as  a  Dutch  sailor 
marched  on  beating  a  drum  in  the  drunken  proces- 
sion. 

Yet  even  in  his  orgies  Peter  showed  a  spark  of 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

logic.  The  church  had  dared  to  resist  his  reforms, 
the  church  must  therefore  be  degraded  in  order  that 
the  authority  of  the  Czar  should  be  unchallenged. 
And  as  the  Bourbons  in  France,  following  the  in- 
genious plan  of  Richelieu,  demoralized  their  restive 
aristocracy  with  the  frivolities  of  Versailles,  so 
Peter,  pursuing  a  less  elegant  tradition,  summoned 
his  boyars  to  the  debauches  of  the  pothouse,  where 
in  drinking  bouts  of  days*  duration  he  never  forgot 
to  carry  tablets  to  note  down  suspicious  utterances 
dropped  by  wine-loosened  tongues. 

This  not  wholly  unsophisticated  joy  in  buffoonery 
and  harlequinade  was  together  with  his  satanic 
cruelty  one  of  the  most  strongly  marked  features  of 
Peter's  character.  None  but  a  madman  could  have 
carried  his  former  mistress  in  his  own  arms  to  the 
scaffold,  as  Peter  did,  kissing  her  fainting  form  as 
her  head  was  laid  on  the  block,  taking  up  the  head 
again  after  it  had  fallen,  and  exhibiting  to  his  en- 
tourage the  severed  veins  and  vertebrae,  then  kissing 
it  again,  crossing  himself  and  departing.  Still  the 
same  man  who  blithely  sent  favorites  to  torture 
chamber  and  scaffold  could  bear  with  patience  the 
blows  of  an  exasperated  cook  whom  he  had  infuriated 
by  some  practical  joke. 

The  work  which  Peter  accomplished  was  as  com- 
posite as  his  personality.  He  grafted  European 
civilization  on  to  the  old  Russian  culture,  though 
branches  and  trunk  were  not  well  fitted.     He  left  a 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

Dutch  fleet,  a  German  army,  and  a  Swedish  ad- 
ministration. The  fear  haunted  him,  that  his  work 
might  not  survive  him,  for  with  all  his  perversity 
his  mind  was  clear,  penetrating,  and  exact,  going  to 
the  point  unhesitatingly  and  unswervingly  like  a 
sharp  tool  wielded  by  a  sure  hand. 

Peter,  though  certainly  no  genius,  possessed  a  re- 
markable ingenuity  and  his  abnormally  restless  brain 
expressed  itself  in  an  atmosphere  of  the  most  ab- 
solute power.  With  unmistakable  traits  of  great- 
ness he  combined  features  of  extreme  vulgarity. 
His  rustic  humor  and  childish  gayety  Avas  trans- 
formed on  the  moment  into  savagery  at  the  slightest 
provocation.  He  superintended  his  household  like  a 
small  shopkeeper,  thrashed  his  wife  like  a  peasant, 
and  sought  his  pleasures  like  a  brawler. 

All  these  characteristics  of  the  full  grown  man  we 
find  indicated  in  the  younger  Peter  depicted  by  our 
diarist.  Peter's  energy  in  extinguishing  a  fire  is 
mentioned  there  as  well  as  his  efficiency  in  executing 
a  criminal  with  his  own  hand.  Nor  is  his  aptitude 
overlooked  for  appealing  to  the  lowest  instincts  of 
the  mob.  Even  minor  traits  are  not  omitted.  When 
Peter  visited  England  William  III.  complained  that 
the  Czar  seemed  quite  indifferent  to  the  beauties  of 
architecture  and  gardening;  and  John  Evelyn  spoke 
regretfully  of  certain  holly  hedges  of  his  own  plant- 
ing at  Sayes  court  after  Peter  had  sojourned  there 
for  a  few  months  in  1698,  mourning  "  his  now  ruined 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

garden,  thanks  to  tlic  Czar  of  Muscovy."  The  same 
heedlessness  of  Peter  about  horticulture  is  mentioned 
by  Korb  in  his  entry  of  April  5th,  1699.  He  re- 
marks also  the  dirtiness  of  the  Czar's  silver  plate, 
a  fact  confirmed  by  later  diplomatic  reports  which 
explain  that  the  vessels  were  not  cleaned  because  it 
had  been  discovered  that  they  lost  weight  thereby. 

This  diary,  though  published  in  Latin  and  there- 
fore accessible  only  to  a  comparatively  small  circle 
of  readers,  led  to  serious  friction  between  the  Rus- 
sian and  Austrian  courts  until  the  Emperor  Leopold 
I.  gave  permission  that  the  unsold  copies  of  the  diary 
were  to  be  destroyed.  Even  then  the  agents  of  the 
Czar  were  active  in  buying  up  every  available  copy 
and  one  was  publicly  burned  by  the  executioner  in 
Moscow.  The  publication  of  the  diary  made  the 
Austrian  envoy,  Baron  de  Guarient,  persona  non 
grata,  and  eliminated  him  from  a  later  mission  to 
Moscow.  The  author,  Korb,  lived  unharmed  until 
his  death  in  1741  as  a  Privy  Councilor  and  Knight 
in  the  Bavarian  service.  Outside  of  Russia  the 
diary  was  soon  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant sources  of  Russian  history  of  that  period. 
It  has  been  extensively  copied  for  instance  in  Eleazar 
de  Mauvillon's  "  Histoire  de  Pierre  I."  which  ap- 
peared in  1742.  But  the  persecution  by  Peter  soon 
made  it  a  very  rare  work.  It  is  estimated  that  there 
are  to-day  scarcely  more  than  ten  copies  existing, 
most  of  them  being  in  the  possession  of  famous  li- 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

braries.  There  arc  copies  in  the  British  Museum 
and  the  former  Imperial  Library  in  Vienna. 
Strangely  enough  the  copy  in  the  National  Library 
in  Berlin  was  formerly  the  property  of  the  same 
Baron  Muenchhausen  to  whom  are  ascribed  the  well 
known  tales.  Only  one  copy  of  the  Latin  original 
is  held  in  the  western  hemisphere.  It  is  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Congressional  Library  in  Washington, 
D.  C. 

The  earliest  translations  of  this  diary  from  the 
original  Latin  text  were  done  in  Russian,  one  for 
Peter  himself,  which  is  full  of  omissions  and  misun- 
derstandings. No  German  translation  has  ever 
been  undertaken  and  in  French  there  exists  only  that 
part  of  the  diary  dealing  with  the  revolt  of  the 
Strelitz.  The  English  version  on  which  the  follow- 
ing pages  are  based  is  the  only  English  translation, 
and  was  made  by  Count  Macdonnell  in  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  was  published  in  Lon- 
don in  1863  and  has  also  become  comparatively  rare. 
Charles  Macdonnell,  an  Austrian  Count,  was  de- 
scended from  the  ancient  Macdonnells  of  Antrim,  a 
leading  branch  of  the  Scottish  clan  Donnell,  but  he 
had  suffered  financial  reverses  and  lived  abroad. 

In  the  preface  to  his  translation  Count  Mac- 
donnell gives  a  picturesque  account  of  the  circum- 
stances under  which  he  came  to  make  it : 

"  Some  few  summers  ago  the  translator  happened 
to  pass  a  •villeggiatura  at  Frascati,  in  the  neighbor- 


xxii  INTRODUCTION 

hood  of  Rome,  a  solitary  bird  of  passage  left  behind 
after  the  season  of  the  great  flight  northwards : 
Henry,  Cardinal  of  York,  the  last  Prince  of  the 
Royal  Stuarts,  who  had  struck  medals  upon  Charles 
Edward's  death  with  the  royal  titles  of  "  Henry  IX. 
by  the  Grace  of  God,  but  not  by  will  of  men.  King  of 
England,  France,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  Defender 
of  the  Faith,"  was  at  one  time  Bishop  of  Frascati, 
and  Frascati  was  his  favorite  residence  even  after 
he  was  translated  to  another  see.  At  his  death  he 
bequeathed  his  library  to  the  College  in  that  town, 
directing  that  it  should  be  always  accessible  to  the 
public  for  study.  Attracted  by  its  connection  with 
the  last  of  that  royal  race,  the  translator  obtained 
access  to  its  shelves.  The  sultry  heat  of  a  Roman 
summer  rendered  out-of  door  excursions  in  that  beau- 
tiful neighborhood  impossible,  except  in  the  early 
morning  and  in  the  evenings.  Much  of  his  time  was 
spent,  in  consequence,  in  poring  over  the  dusty  tomes 
in  the  Stuart  library.  There  he  discovered  a  copy 
of  this  rare  and  curious  Diary;  and  there,  seated 
day  after  day  in  the  identical  arm-chair  in  which  — 
so  said  the  living  local  tradition  —  fifty  years  prev- 
iously, the  crownless  heir  of  three  kingdoms  was  wont 
to  sit  and  read,  the  translation  was  undertaken  and 
half  accomplished.  The  rest  was  completed  in  the 
autumn  of  the  following  year  in  Vienna." 

Count  Macdonnell  points  out  his  efforts  to  render 
as  literally  as  possible  into  English  the  "  slovenly 


INTRODUCTION  xxiii 

Latin  "  of  the  German  diplomat,  thus  endeavoring 
to  make  this  translation  as  faithful  as  possible  to  the 
original.  His  translation  is  fairly  complete  except 
for  a  few  slight  omissions  made  as  a  concession  to 
the  mid- Victorian  taste  of  his  time. 

In  this  edition  no  effort  has  been  made  to  repro- 
duce the  diary  in  full  as  that  would  involve  the  in- 
clusion of  a  large  amount  of  redundant  and  unin- 
teresting matter,  important  only  to  the  meticulous 
savant.  The  editor  has  rather  aimed  at  a  careful 
selection  of  those  portions  of  the  work  which  are 
important  and  significant  and  those  which  reveal  the 
personality  of  Peter  the  Man  whose  human  interest 
will  outlive  the  political  power  of  the  Romanoff 
dynasty.  For  it  is  the  intention  of  tnis  volume  as 
of  the  whole  series  to  meet  the  needs  less  of  those 
who  write  history  than  of  those  who  read  it. 

F.  L.  Glaser. 

New  York,  August,  1920. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Introduction vii 

I     The  Entry  into  Moscow 1 

II     First  Impressions  of  Moscow   ....  7 

III     Revolt  of  the  Strelitz 15 

IV     Return  of  the  Czar 31 

V     Stubbornness   of   the   Muscovites   under 

Torture 49 

VI     Punishment  of  the  Strelitz     ....  53 

VII     Life  at  the  Czar's  Court 75 

VIII     A  Winter  in  Moscow 95 

IX     Diplomatic  Incidents 131 

X     Return  of  the  Imperial  Legation  from 

Muscovy   to   Vienna 159 

Appendix 165 


SCENES  FROM  THE  COURT  OF 
PETER  THE  GREAT 

I 

THE  ENTRY  INTO  MOSCOW 

29th  April,  1698. —  About  seven  in  the  morning 
we  moved  off  from  MammonofF  towards  Moscow. 
After  two  miles  we  saw  the  monastery  of  nuns, 
situated  to  the  right.  Here  Sophia  ^  is  shut  up  and 
always  strictly  watched  by  the  authorities  for  hav- 
ing several  times  conspired  with  rebels  against  her 
most  serene  brother  the  Czar.  As  we  approached 
Moscow  a  number  of  Muscovites  and  foreigners  rode 
out  on  horseback  to  meet  us,  to  see  the  fashion  of 
our  coaches  and  our  dress.  The  nearer  we  ap- 
proached the  city,  the  more  our  road  and  quiet  were 
interrupted.  It  is  certainly  a  marvelous  fashion, 
which  made  the  pristaza  "  very  fussy  —  orders  now 
to  go  slow,  now  to  press  on,  puzzled  and  wearied  the 
good  man  exceedingly.  In  approaching  and  meeting 
the   Czar's    carriage    the    coachman   has    need   of   a 

1  See  page  58. 

2  A  police  official. 


2    COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

certain  practice  and  dexterity  to  keep  always  on  the 
right  hand,  which  the  Muscovites  try  every  possible 
ruse  to  get.  The  master  of  the  horse  headed  the 
whole  procession  of  our  Lord  Envoy,  and  deserved 
no  little  praise  for  never  turning  to  the  left,  always 
keeping  the  right,  paying  no  attention  to  the  ad- 
monition of  the  pristaw,  the  interpreter,  and  others, 
to  go  to  the  left,  even  though  some  of  them  menda- 
ciously told  him  that  such  were  the  Lord  Envoy's 
orders.  This  had  always  been  a  point  of  great  diffi- 
culty at  the  reception  of  ambassadors,  the  Musco- 
vites having  the  ambition  to  pretend  to  this  exceed- 
ingly empty  prerogative.  The  controversy  at  times 
led  to  disputes  and  altercations,  neither  willing  to 
move  first,  and  each  most  sharply  struggling  to  get 
the  post  of  honor.  There  was  no  such  dispute  at 
our  reception,  for  the  Muscovite  commissary,  waiv- 
ing all  dispute  about  this  prerogative,  was  the  first 
to  get  down  from  his  coach,  went  to  meet  the  Lord 
Envoy,  and  in  the  coach  and  elsewhere  modestly  gave 
the  first  place  to  the  Lord  Envoy,  and  gave  no  sign 
of  the  arrogance  of  a  former  time.  We  were  all 
amazed  at  this  sudden  national  metamorphosis,  and 
the  Lord  Envoy  thanked  his  stars  that  he  was  the 
first  to  find  dormant  and  almost  extinct  those  con- 
troversies, the  obstinate  defense  of  which  had  caused 
so  much  trouble  to  all  who  had  preceded  him  in  a 
similar  capacity. 

As  long  as  the  most  auspicious  reign  of  his  present 


THE  ENTRY  INTO  MOSCOW  3 

majesty  the  Czar  lasts,  I  do  not  think  that  this  peo- 
ple will  relapse  into  such  pretensions.  Horses  from 
the  stables  of  his  majesty  the  Czar  were  assigned  to 
the  embassy  officials,  with  saddles  and  trappings 
adorned  in  the  richest  way  with  embroidery  of  gold 
and  gems :  grooms  in  handsome  red  tunics  held  them 
to  be  mounted.  The  entry  itself  was  splendidly 
grand  and  truly  magnificent. 

The  procession  was  preceded  by  four  companies 
of  soldiers  led  by  some  one  belonging  to  the  Chan- 
cery. 

Then  folloaved  the  Lord  Envoy's  master  of  the 
horses,  and  after  him  four  horses,  led  by  servants. 
The  trappings  of  these  horses,  each  of  different  col- 
ored silk,  were  exceedingly  handsome. 

Came  the  Lord  Envoy's  officials,  mounted  upon 
the  horses,  with  trappings  glittering  with  gold  and 
silver,  and  head-gear  of  variegated  plumes.  Along 
with  them  rode  several  of  the  Czar's  nobility. 

In  the  Czar's  carriage,  which  was  gilt  all  over  and 
drawn  by  six  white  horses,  came  the  Lord  Envoy 
with  the  Czar's  commissary  and  an  interpreter. 

The  private  carriage  of  the  Lord  Envoy,  very 
handsomely  adorned  with  painting,  gilding,  and  silk 
of  various  colors,  drawn  by  six  splendid  dark  brown 
horses.  On  either  side  of  the  carriage  walked  eight 
footmen  in  excessively  rich  livery. 

The  first  coach  for  the  officials,  ornamented  in  the 
same  manner.     The  second  coach  for  the  officials  (in 


4    COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

which  sat  the  three  missionaries),  drawn  by  six 
horses,  as  were  also  the  traveling  carriage  and  the 
rest. 

Then  came  the  Lord  Envoy's  horses,  which  had 
all  been  brought  from  Vienna.  Four  more  com- 
panies of  soldiers  closed  the  procession. 

Finally,  about  fifty  Muscovite  vehicles,  conveying 
the  Lord  Envoy's  goods  and  baggage,  were  drawn 
to  the  houses  which  were  to  be  in  readiness  for  our 
lodging.  An  immense  multitude  crowded  the  streets 
on  either  side ;  and  as  our  procession  was  conducted 
across  the  stone  bridge  and  through  the  Czar's 
castle,  called  the  Kremlin,  the  Czarina  and  several 
other  princesses  of  the  blood  were  looking  out  of 
their  windows.  I  think  it  worthy  to  be  particularly 
remarked  that  it  is  not  always  ambassadors  are  al- 
lowed to  enter  Moscow  by  the  stone  bridge  and  the 
Czar's  castle  of  the  Kremlin ; —  nay,  at  first  another 
route  was  appointed,  by  which  we  should  have  had  to 
cross  the  river  on  a  floating  bridge,  but  the  Lord 
Envoy  having  remonstrated,  obtained  his  wishes. 
The  rich  glitter  of  the  equipages,  the  perfect  ele- 
gance of  fashion  of  the  Lord  Envoy  and  all  his  suite, 
induced  the  Czarina  and  many  other  princesses  to 
look  out  upon  the  scene.  To  gratify  their  curiosity, 
the  solemn  entry,  contrary  to  the  established  custom, 
was  allowed  to  take  place  through  the  Czar's  very 
fortress  of  the  Kremlin :  such  a  prodigy  of  innovation 
long  kept  not  only  the  Muscovites  but  also  the  royal 


THE  ENTRY  INTO  MOSCOW  5 

and  other  foreign  ministers  in  amazement.  Before 
we  reached  the  houses  destined  for  our  lodging,  the 
pristaw  conducted  the  Lord  Envo}^  through  the 
apartments  and  bed-rooms  destined  for  his  own  ac- 
commodation :  the  vice-master  of  the  horse  to  the 
Czar  delivered  the  keys.  But  the  place  was  quite 
too  small  to  lodge  such  a  number  of  men  and  horses, 
and  drew  from  the  Lord  Envoy  a  protest  that  they 
must  find  him  more  commodious  lodgings,  saying 
that  he  knew  not  how  he  could  keep  his  people  and 
horses  in  such  narrow  quarters.  Though  the  pris- 
taw  promised  to  relate  all  faithfully,  nevertheless 
Mr.  Pleyer  was  charged  with  a  similar  message  to 
the  'Prime  Minister,  Leo  Kirilowicz  Nareskin,  with 
the  addition  that  the  Lord  Envoy  would  not  dismiss 
the  potwodi  ^  until  a  more  decent  and  commodious 
lodging  was  assigned  to  him,  for  that  such  a  narrow 
place  was  insufficient  for  the  safe  custody  of  his 
property.  Though  Nareskin  had  rudely  answered 
that  houses  in  Moscow  could  not  be  had  as  commodi- 
ous as  in  Vienna  —  that  it  had  cost  a  deal  of  trouble 
to  find  that  lodging  —  that  the  Lord  Envoy  might 
be  perfectly  contented  with  it,  especially  considering 
the  case  of  the  late  Muscovite  envoy,  Cosmo  Nikitz 
NephimonofF,  who  was  not  allowed  to  bring  all  his 
horses  to  Vienna  —  nevertheless,  the  interpreter, 
Mr.   Schwerenberg,   to   persuade  us   to   dismiss   the 

3  Peasants'  carts,  collected  by  requisition  of  the  authorities, 
and  which  the  peasants  are  bound  to  furnish  when  called  upon. 


6    COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

potwodi,  gave  hopes  that  we  should  soon  obtain  a 
large  house ;  and  the  weather  coming  on  to  rain,  fell 
in  with  his  advice  to  house  our  property  at  length, 
after  it  had  been  exposed  to  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
the  weather  and  storms  on  our  long  journey. 


II 

FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  OF  MOSCOW 

14th  May,  1698.— One  of  the  Danish  Lord 
Envoy's  footmen  had  ridden  to  the  church  belonging 
to  the  secretaries  of  the  Confession  of  Augsburg.-^ 
The  horse,  in  yielding  to  a  need  of  nature,  spattered 
a  lieutenant's  wife  who  was  passing  by.  With  a 
woman's  fury  she  showered  opprobrious  epithets 
upon  the  footman;  and  in  an  obstinate,  fierce  rage, 
went  off  to  rouse  her  husband  to  revenge, —  telling 
him  that  if  he  deserved  to  be  called  a  husband  he 
would  take  signal  vengeance  for  an  insult  that  re- 
flected upon  himself.  Excited  with  these  outrageous 
complaints  and  sobs,  the  lieutenant  treacherously 
fell  upon  the  footman,  and  with  the  associates  he 
had  brought  with  him  to  commit  the  outrage,  so  be- 
labored the  man  with  cudgels  that  he  could  neither 
walk  nor  ride.  The  Danish  envoy  made  a  great  com- 
plaint of  the  lieutenant,  and  said,  with  great  feeling, 
that  he  was  attacked  himself  in  the  person  of  the 
servant. 

20th  May,  1698. —  In  the  public  offices  which  the 
Muscovites  call  Pricass,  the  chief  Clerk  is  called  All. 

1  i.  e.  the  Lutherans. 

7 


8    COURT  OF  TETER  THE  GREAT 

His  duty  is  to  watch  constantly  that  the  rest  actively 
pursue  their  work.  One  day  the  business  was  so 
great,  that  it  was  considered  necessary  to  give  up 
the  whole  night  as  well  as  the  day  to  it,  though  only 
the  day  was  paid  for.  Ali  had  in  consequence  be- 
taken him  to  rest.  The  remaining  mob  of  scribblers 
followed  his  example. 

The  day  after,  the  Dumnoi,^  becoming  aware  of 
this  contumacy  of  the  clerks,  condemned  Ali  to  re- 
ceive, in  proper  person,  the  penalty  of  the  battok  — 
a  kind  of  cudgelling  —  as  being  the  prime  offender, 
by  the  very  bad  example  he  had  given  to  the  rest 
by  contempt  of  orders.  The  clerks,  after  the  man- 
ner of  outrageous  criminals,  were  chained  with  iron 
to  their  places,  and  fettered,  to  teach  them  how  to 
write  night  and  day. 

25th,  26th,  27th,  May,  1698.— These  days  our 
movables  were  transferred  to  the  Palace  of  the  Am- 
bassadors and  arranged  in  the  rooms  of  our  future 
lodging  there.  On  the  last  day,  when  everything 
had  been  removed,  one  of  the  servants,  by  some  ac- 
cident, dropped  a  sword  in  the  street.  A  Muscovite 
of  the  common  people,  before  the  eyes  of  another  of 
our  men,  thievingly  snatched  it  up  to  carry  home 
with  him ;  he  refused  to  give  it  up  when  asked  for 
it;  his  insolent  quibbling  gave  rise  to  a  brawl,  and  a 
consequent  tumult,  so  that  the  whole  house  was  full 
of  the   idea  that  our  people  were  in  danger,  when 

2  The  Magistrates. 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  OF  MOSCOW        9 

the  Lord  Envoy,  who  at  all  times  was  most  cautious 
to  prevent  any  quarrel,  especially  with  people  not 
belonging  to  the  house,  hastily  arranging  his  dress, 
mounted  the  first  horse  at  hand  to  see  for  himself 
what  was  the  matter ;  but  the  affair  had  already  been 
settled  without  wounds  on  either  side. 

1st  June,  1698. —  At  about  an  hour's  distance 
from  the  city  of  Moscow,  there  is  a  green  grove  on 
the  bank  of  the  river  Jausa,  whither  daily  flock,  in 
spring  and  summer,  the  Germans  established  in  Mos- 
cow. The  place  is  so  familiar  to  every  German  of 
them  all,  from  constantly  going  there,  that  it  seems 
almost  to  belong  to  himself.  Their  sole  amusement 
is  to  gladden  their  souls  among  these  shady  thickets 
and  pleasant  green  trees  with  their  usual  innocent 
games.  Here  too  they  spread  the  board,  alternating 
the  expenses  with  one  another.  It  was  Colonel  de 
Grage's  turn  to-day;  he  politely  invited  us  to  enjoy 
this  gentle  recreation,  and  we  willingly  accepted. 

8th  June,  1698. —  A  council  of  war  was  held  by 
the  Boyars  at  a  place  a  mile  distant  from  Moscow. 
A  most  commodious  traveling  carriage,  with  six 
horses,  beautifully  ornamented  and  with  richly- 
wrought  trappings  and  housings  was  sent  to  the 
Prime  Minister,^  at  his  own  request,  by  the  Lord 
Envoy  who  was  not  unaware  that  they  would  never 
return  to  his  stables. 

3  Nariskin  brother  of  the  Czarina,  mother  of  Peter  I.  See 
Appendix. 


10   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

After  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  in  Slowoda,  the 
Lord  Envoy  was  received  by  Mr.  Guasconi,  a  Floren- 
tine merchant,  to  a  most  splendid  dinner.  The  other 
guests  were  Colonel  Grage  and  Doctors  Carbonari 
and  Zoppot,  together  with  the  four  Imperial  mission- 
aries. 

9th  June,  1698. —  As  the  Lord  Envoy  far  pre- 
ferred the  sovereign  fame  of  his  most  clement  lord 
principal  to  any  private  convenience  whatsoever,  he 
had,  from  the  very  day  he  made  his  public  entry,  kept 
open  table  for  those  who,  being  distinguished  from 
the  common  herd  by  splendor  of  birth  or  dignity  of 
office,  were  thus  worthy  of  his  familiar  conversation. 
The  Czar's  physician,  Mr.  Zoppot,  came  to  dinner 
to-day,  along  with  Colonel  de  Grage  and  several 
others.  This  gentleman's  servant,  coming  to  per- 
form his  duty,  was  taken  under  a  false  pretext,  by 
the  soldiers  who  have  been  assigned  to  us  as  a  guard, 
into  their  own  room,  and  there  they  beat  him.  The 
Lord  Envoy,  indignant  that  the  soldiers  of  the  guard 
should  dare  to  act  so  to  his  guests  or  their  servants, 
ordered  the  soldier,  whom  the  servant  had  noted  to 
be  the  ringleader,  into  arrest ;  and  meantime  signified 
what  had  happened  to  the  Prime  Minister  and  to 
Dumnoi  Unkrainzow,  adding  that  he  would  not  hesi- 
tate to  take  satisfaction  on  his  own  authority  should 
the  ministry  think  of  deferring  the  matter  needlessly. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  considering  the  justice  of 
our  complaint,  full  satisfaction  followed.     The  sol- 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  OF  MOSCOW      11 

dier  paid  the  due  penalty  of  his  audacity,  being  con- 
demned to  receive  one  hundred  blows  of  a  stick,  or, 
as  they  call  them,  hattoK: 

To-day,  for  the  first  time,  a  vague  rumor  of  the 
revolt  of  the  Strelitz  struck  terror. 

29th  June,  1698. —  The  joyful  news  arrived  that 
the  rebels  were  defeated  at  the  monastery  dedicated 
to  the  Most  Holy  Resurrection,  commonly  called 
Jerusalem. 

30th  June,  1698. —  The  Lord  Envoy  went  by  in- 
vitation to  a  certain  monastery  in  the  city,  where 
one  of  the  Boyar  family  of  Szeremetow  is  abbess. 
The  dainties  which  they  presented,  according  to  their 
custom,  were  nuts  and  cucumbers.  Some  kinds  of 
very  old  wine  were,  however,  presented,  some  of  the 
nuns  reverentially  serving,  and  most  civilly  inviting 
the  Lord  Envoy  to  come  and  see  them  often. 

^J^th  July,  1698.— The  wife  of  a  diak  (i.e.  a 
chancer}^  secretary)  happening  to  pass  in  front  of 
the  gibbet  that  was  erected  in  front  of  the  Czar's 
castle  of  the  Kremlin  in  the  late  rebellion,  compas- 
sioning  the  fate  of  those  that  she  beheld  hanging 
there,  inadvertently  exclaimed,  "  Alas !  what  mortal 
knows  whether  you  were  guilty  or  innocent? " 
These  words  were  repeated  to  another  person,  who 
forthwith  denounced  them  to  the  Boyars  as  an  in- 
dubitable indication  of  treason.  A  woman's  pity 
for  condemned  and  public  criminals  was  deemed 
dangerous.      So  she  was  forthwith  dragged  up,  along 


12   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

with  her  husband,  to  an  examination.  Now,  when  it 
was  proved  that  there  was  nothing  more  in  question 
than  unreflecting  and  womanly  compassion  for  the 
unfortunate,  and  that  there  was  no  trace  of  deliber- 
ate malice,  they  were  indeed  exempted  from  the 
penalty  of  death,  but  nevertheless  condemned  to 
exile.  Thus  thoughtless  and  guileless  liberty  of  the 
tongue  is  chastised  where  subjects  are  coerced  to 
obey  through  fear  alone. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  NarbekofF,  impeached  for  the 
late  sedition,  was,  with  twenty-five  serfs,  dragged  off 
to  prison  and  the  torture. 

26th  July,  1698.—  After  dinner  to-day  the  Lord 
Envoy,  with  the  greater  part  of  his  suite,  went  to 
Prince  Galizin's,  as  well  to  pay  him  a  ceremonial 
visit  as  to  enjoy  the  freedom  of  familiar  discourse 
with  him. 

With  strange  politeness  he  commanded  his  musi- 
cians, who  are  natives  of  Poland,  to  play  various 
airs  for  the  amusement  of  the  company,  and  earn- 
estly begged  the  Lord  Envoy  to  come  to  his  country 
house,  where  he  purposed  to  take  the  Lord  Arch- 
bishop for  his  amusement,  before  he  should  finally 
start  for  Persia.  He  ordered  a  great  variety  of 
wines  to  be  served  to  display  the  extent  of  his  opu- 
lence. Two  of  the  Prince's  sons,  who  were  present, 
were  commanded  to  serve  the  Lord  Archbishop  and 
the  Lord  Envoy,  really  in  testimony  of  a  proud 
courtesy.     He  had   given   them   as   a   companion   a 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  OF  MOSCOW      13 

young  Circassian  Prince,  who  a  considerable  time 
ago  was  torn  away  by  violence  from  his  parents, 
princes  of  the  Tartar  Circassians,  and  christened. 
A  very  rich  widow  of  the  Galizin  family  adopted  him 
as  her  heir,  in  order  to  console  him  for  the  patri- 
mony which  he  had  lost  by  being  stolen  and  torn 
away  from  his  father.  He  keeps  a  Pole  as  tutor  to 
these  youths :  they  are  at  present  engaged  learning 
Latin.  The  disposition  of  the  Galizins  appeared 
meek.  On  the  contrary  the  Circassian's  noble  and 
daring  countenance  seemed  an  index  of  the  warlike 
soul  with  which  he  was  born. 

Prince  Galizin  at  length  put  us  all  in  amaze  by 
the  atrocious  invectives  and  threats  into  which  he 
broke  out  at  the  pedagogue.  "  Thou  traitor  to  me 
and  mine,  how  durst  thou  publish  the  secret  of  my 
house  and  violate  thy  sworn  promise  of  silence.'* 
Knowest  thou  not  Galizin?  In  whose  power  it  is  to 
hang  thee,  and  thus  (clenching  his  hand)  to  squash 
thee ;  for  know  that  it  is  something  to  be  the  tyrant 
even  in  one's  own  house." 


Ill 

REVOLT  OF  THE  STRELITZ       • 

BY  a  common  sport  of  fortune  it  very  often 
happens  that  when  a  friend  would  extinguish 
the  houses  of  his  neighbors  which  the  flames  are  de- 
vouring, his  own  is  involved  in  the  same  peril.  And 
so  it  is  not  without  reason  that  we  deplore  a  calamity 
that  may  befall  ourselves  as  often  as  Ucalegon 
hard-by  is  on  fire. 

Everybody  knows  that  when  the  Poles  were  about 
to  proceed  to  the  vote  for  the  election  of  a  monarch 
to  the  throne  of  their  widowed  Republic,  their  strug- 
gles were  divided  between  two  candidates.  These 
wild  gusts  bursting  beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  the 
Diet,  among  this  fiery  people,  burning  as  they  are 
with  subtle  and  active  intrigue  menaced  a  tempest 
fraught  with  universal  danger.  The  Czar  of  Mos- 
cow, roused  by  the  proximity  of  the  peril,  ordered  a 
strong  body  of  troops  under  the  command  of  General 
Knes  Michael  Greegorowicz  Romadonowski  to  lie  in 
observation  upon  the  frontiers  of  Lithuania,  so  as 
to  be  able,  should  public  disorders  arise  out  of  the 

strife  of  private  individuals,  to  settle  them  promptly 

15 


16   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

and  repress  with  strong  succors  the  disturbers  of 
the  public  peace,  and  force  them  the  more  effica- 
ciously into  the  reverence  due  to  their  lawfully  elected 
king. 

But  how  wonderful  are  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune 
and  of  human  affairs !  The  flood  burst  in  wild  rage 
upon  him,  who  rashly  thought  to  brave  the  unruly 
inundation  that  menaced  the  quiet  of  a  neighboring 
nation.  Four  regiments  of  the  Strelitz,  which  lay 
upon  the  frontier  of  Lithuania  had  nefariously 
plotted  to  change  the  sovereignty.  The  regiment  of 
Theodosia  abandoned  Viasma,  the  Athanasian  regi- 
ment quitted  Picla,  the  Isano-Tzernovio-Wlodomir- 
ian  left  Ostheba,  and  the  Ticchonian  quitted  Dorogo- 
busa,  in  which  places  they  were  in  garrison.  They 
drove  away  the  loyal  officers  that  happened  to  be 
among  them,  distributed  military  rank  among  them- 
selves,—  the  readiest  for  crime  being  held  the  fittest 
for  command.  At  once  they  menaced  death  to  all  in 
their  next  neighborhood  if  they  would  not  freely  join 
their  party,  or  should  resist  their  design. 

Many  reports  spread  through  Moscow  about  the 
danger  that  was  so  near  at  hand,  but  what  real  truth 
was  in  them  nobody  knew :  until  at  length  the  meeting 
of  the  Boyars,  their  consultations  repeated  day  after 
day,  their  assembling  by  night,  and  their  assiduous 
conferences  might  have  proved  to  anybody  how 
grave  a  business  it  was,  and  what  imminent  need 
there  was  to  press  on  their  conclusions  to  maturity. 


REVOLT  OF  THE  STRELITZ  17 

The  Czar,  before  his  departure,  had  chosen  the 
Boyar  and  Woiwode  Alexis  Simonowicz  Schachin,^ 
generalissimo  of  his  land  forces.  No  other  than 
the  man  whom  the  Czar's  majesty  had  already  en- 
trusted with  the  command-in-chief  of  the  army  could 
be  charged  with  the  execution  of  the  measures  re- 
quired. But  the  orders  were  not  sufficiently  decisive, 
everybody  wished  to  take  counsel  of  events ;  should 
they  hold  out  perseveringly  and  refuse  to  confess 
their  fault  and  crave  pardon,  it  would  then  be  time 
enough  to  take  severe  measures  against  this  flagitious 
mutiny. 

Schachin  agreed  to  accept  the  power  they,  the 
Boyars,  would  entrust  to  him,  but  upon  condition 
that  the  decree  approved  unanimously  should  be 
also  confirmed  by  their  seals  and  signatures.  Al- 
though what  he  required  was  fair,  there  was  not  one 
among  them  all  that  did  not  refuse  to  put  his  hand 
to  the  resolution.  It  was  hard  to  say  whether  this 
was  through  fear  or  envy:  but  the  danger  was  too 
near  to  admit  of  delay,  and  the  dread  was  left  the 
seditious  cohorts  of  the  Strelitz  should  penetrate 
into  Moscow.  Nor  was  it  without  reason  that  they 
were  in  terror  of  the  mixing  of  the  rebels  and  the 
masses.  It  appeared  more  advisable  to  march  out 
against  them  than  to  await  an  invasion  so  fraught 
with  the  veriest  peril. 

The  regiments  of  the  guards  got  notice  to  hold 
iSee  Appendix. 


18   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

themselves  In  readiness  to  march  at  an  hour's  notice, 
and  that  those  who  should  decline  to  act  against  the 
sacrilegious  violators  of  the  Majesty  of  the  Crown 
would  be  held  guilty  of  misprison  of  their  crime, — 
that  no  ties  of  blood  or  kindred  held  binding  when 
the  salvation  of  the  soverign  and  the  state  were  at 
stake, —  nay,  that  a  son  might  stay  his  father  if  he 
rose  to  ruin  his  fatherland. 

General  Gordon  strenuously  executed  this  Spartan 
measure  and  exhorted  the  troops  entrusted  to  him  to 
perform  their  noble  task,  telling  them  how  there 
could  be  no  more  glorious  need  than  to  have  saved 
the  sovereign  and  the  state.  Nor  was  the  circum- 
stance of  this  expedition  against  the  mutineers  being 
undertaken  on  the  very  festival  of  Pentecost,  devoid 
of  happy  omen  that  the  spirit  of  truth  and  justice 
would  confound  the  councils  of  the  wicked, —  as  the 
event  clearly  showed.  For  there  was  discord  be- 
tween the  three  principal  chiefs  of  the  rebellion, 
which  delayed  their  march  for  three  days,  and  so 
gave  the  loyal  army  time  to  encounter  the  traitor 
Strelitz  at  the  monastery  dedicated  to  the  most 
Holy  Resurrection  which  some  call  Jerusalem.  For 
the  stupendous  nature  of  their  crime,  brought  dread, 
delay,  and  divided  counsels:  the  concord  that  is 
sworn  for  crime  is  seldom  indeed  lasting. 

Had  the  rebels  reached  that  monastery  but  one 
hour  sooner,  safe  within  its  strong  defenses,  they 
might  perhaps  have  worn  out  the  loyal  troops  with 


REVOLT  OF  THE  STRELITZ  19 

such  long  and  fruitless  labor  that  they  might  have 
lost  heart,  and  victory,  hostile  to  Loyalty,  might 
have  set  her  garland  upon  the  brow  of  Treason. 
But  Fortune  denied  to  their  turbulent  counsels  the 
object  they  sought.  A  slender  stream  not  far  dis- 
tant waters  the  rich  land  hereabouts.  On  its  hither 
banks  the  Czar's  troops,  and  on  the  opposite  the 
rebel  columns  had  begun  to  appear.  The  latter 
were  trying  to  ford  and  if  they  had  been  really  de- 
termined to  pass,  the  Czar's  force  could  hardly  have 
hindered  them.  Fatigued  with  a  long  march,  and 
still  without  sufficient  force,  Gordon,  setting  "wisdom 
in  the  place  of  strength,  strolled  alone  to  the  bank 
to  talk  with  the  Strelitz.  He  found  them  deliberating 
without  crossing,  and  dissuaded  them  from  their  un- 
dertaking with  words  like  these :  what  did  they  mean 
to  do?  Whither  were  they  going?  If  they  were 
thinking  of  Moscow,  the  night  was  too  close  at  hand 
to  admit  of  their  reaching  it, —  there  was  not  room 
for  them  all  on  the  hither  bank,  they  would  do  much 
better  to  remain  at  the  other  side  of  the  river  and 
give  the  night  to  thinking  sensibly  of  what  they 
ought  to  do  on  the  morrow.  The  seditious  multitude 
could  not  resist  such  friendly  advice;  they  Avere  too 
much  fatigued  in  body  to  have  stomach  for  a  fight 
where  they  did  not  expect  one. 

Meantime,  Gordon  having  well  examined  all  the 
advantages  of  the  ground,  occupied  an  advantageous 
height  with  his  troops,  Schachin  consenting,  he  dis- 


20   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

tributed  the  posts,  and  fortified  himself,  leaving  noth- 
ing undone  that  could  contribute  to  his  own  defense 
and  security  or  to  the  detriment  and  damage  of  the 
enemy.  With  equal  loyalty  and  resolution  the  im- 
perial colonel  of  artillery,  De  Grage,  bravely  per- 
formed his  part.  He  made  a  lodgement  upon  the 
height,  placed  his  great  guns  in  advantageous  posi- 
tion, and  distributed  all  in  such  excellent  order,  that 
almost  the  whole  success  that  attended  the  affair  was 
due  to  the  artillery.  At  the  first  dawn  of  day,  by 
command  of  General  Schachin,  General  Gordon  went 
again  to  parley  with  the  'Strelitz,  and  after  blaming 
somewhat  the  disobedience  of  the  regiments,  he  dis- 
coursed largely  of  the  Czar's  clemency,  telling  them, 
that  it  was  not  by  sedition  and  mobbing  together 
that  the  desires  of  the  soldiers  should  be  made  known 
to  the  Czar.  Why,  contrary  to  their  usual  dutiful 
behavior,  contrary  to  the  sanction  of  discipline,  had 
they  deserted  the  places  that  had  been  entrusted  to 
their  loyal  keeping?  Why  should  they  have  driven 
away  their  officers,  and  have  broken  out  in  designs 
of  violence  .f*  Let  them  rather  propose  their  requests 
peaceably,  and,  mindful  of  the  loyalty  they  owed,  re- 
turn to  their  appointed  stations,  that  should  he  see 
them  yield  to  their  duty,  should  he  hear  them  beg 
for  it,  he  would  get  them  both  satisfaction  for  their 
requests,  and  pardon,  when  they  confessed  it,  for 
their  shameful  conduct. 

But  Gordon's  speech  did  not  move  the  now  hard- 


REVOLT  OF  THE  STRELITZ  21 

ened  stubbornness  of  the  false  traitors ;  and  they 
only  saucily  answered  that  they  would  not  go  back 
to  their  appointed  quarters  until  they  had  been  al- 
lowed to  kiss  their  darling  wives  at  Moscow,  and  had 
received  the  arrears  of  their  pay. 

Gordon  related  to  Schachin  the  perfectly  deter- 
mined wickedness  of  the  Strelitz.  But  as  the  latter 
was  unwilling  to  despair  altogether  of  the  repentance 
of  the  criminals,  Gordon  did  not  decline  to  try  a  third 
time  to  mollify  the  fierce  passions  of  the  rebels  with 
offers  of  payment  for  their  arrears,  and  pardon  for 
the  crime  they  were  bent  upon.  Not  only  was  ad- 
vice utterly  fruitless,  but  they  were  in  such  a  state 
of  exasperation,  that  the  negotiator  was  near  to  have 
paid  dearly  for  his  pains.  Already  they  loudly  up- 
braided and  rebuked  this  man  of  grave  authority, 
their  former  general ;  they  warned  him  to  be  off 
forthwith,  and  not  to  waste  his  words  to  no  purpose, 
unless  he  wanted  a  bullet  to  chastise  his  marvelous 
audacity ;  that  they  recognized  no  master,  and  would 
listen  to  orders  from  nobody ;  that  they  would  not 
go  back  to  their  quarters ;  that  they  must  be  ad- 
mitted into  Moscow;  that  if  they  were  forbidden, 
they  would  open  the  road  with  force  and  cold  steel. 
Their  unexpected  fierceness  stung  Gordon,  and  he 
deliberated  with  Schachin  and  the  other  military  offi- 
cers present  what  was  to  be  done.  There  was  no 
difficulty  in  deciding  the  course  that  should  be 
adopted  against  men  that  were  predetermined  to  try 


22   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

the  strength  of  their  arms.  Everything  was  made 
ready  consequently,  for  the  onset  and  the  fight,  as 
the  stubborn  unanimity  of  the  traitors  forced  on  that 
last  resort.  Nor  were  the  Strelitz  less  busy;  they 
drew  up  their  array,  pointed  their  artillery,  dressed 
their  ranks,  and,  as  if  the  strife  in  which  they  were 
about  to  mingle  was  a  struggle  with  a  foreign  foe, 
they  preceded  it  with  the  customary  prayers  and 
invocation  of  God.  Even  malice  does  not  dare  to 
show  its  head  in  the  face  of  the  world  without  dis- 
guising itself  in  the  colors  of  virtue  and  righteous- 
ness. 

Countless  signs  of  the  cross  being  made  on  both 
sides,  the  attack  began  on  both  sides  from  a  distance. 
The  first  reports  of  cannon  and  small  arms  pro- 
ceeded from  the  lines  of  General  Schachin,  by  whose 
command  none  of  the  pieces  were  loaded  with  ball ; 
for  he  entertained  a  secret  hope  that  the  reality  of 
resistance  might  terrify  them  into  a  submissive  re- 
turn to  obedience.  But  the  first  volley  passing  with- 
out wound  or  slaughter,  only  added  courage  to  their 
guilt.  Vastly  emboldened,  they  responded  by  a  dis- 
charge, by  which  some  were  laid  lifeless,  and  several 
were  bloodily  wounded.  When  death  and  wounds 
had  given  a  sufficient  lesson  that  stronger  remedies 
must  be  applied,  Colonel  de  Grage  was  no  longer  re- 
quired to  dissemble  his  stout  will,  and  allowed  to 
discharge  his  great  guns,  fraught  with  deadly  lead 
and    iron.     Colonel    de    Grage    had    been   anxiously 


REVOLT  OF  THE  STRELITZ  23 

waiting  for  this  command,  and  lost  no  time  in  firing 
with  such  precision  into  their  rebel  ranks  that  their 
furious  passions  were  checked,  and  the  strife  of  re- 
sistance and  skirmishing  of  the  mutineers  was 
changed  into  a  piteous  slaughter. 

When  they  saw  that  some  were  stretched  lifeless, 
courage  and  fierceness  at  once  deserted  the  terror- 
stricken  Strelitz,  who  broke  in  disorder.  Those  that 
retained  any  presence  of  mind,  endeavored  by  the 
fire  of  their  own  artillery  to  check  and  silence  that 
of  the  Czar;  but  all  in  vain;  for  Colonel  de  Grage 
had  anticipated  that  design,  and  directing  the  fire 
of  his  pieces  upon  the  artillery  of  the  seditious  mob, 
whenever  they  would  go  ,to  their  guns,  vomited  such 
a  perfect  hurricane  upon  them,  that  many  fell,  num- 
bers fled  away,  and  none  remained  daring  enough  to 
return  to  fire  them.  Still  Colonel  de  Grage  did  not 
cease  to  thunder  from  the  heights  into  the  ranks  of 
the  flying.  The  Strelitz  saw  safety  nowhere;  arms 
could  not  protect  them;  nothing  was  more  appalling 
to  them  than  the  ceaseless  flash  and  roar  of  the 
artillery  showering  its  deadly  bolts  upon  them  from 
the  German  right.  And  the  same  men  who,  but  an 
hour  before,  had  spat  upon  proff'ered  pardon,  off*ered 
in  consequence  to  surrender  —  so  short  is  the  in- 
terval that  separates  victors  from  vanquished.  Sup- 
pliant, they  fell  prostrate,  and  begged  that  the  artil- 
lery might  cease  its  cruel  ravages,  off'ering  to  do 
promptly  whatever  they  were  ordered. 


24   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

The  suppliants  were  directed  to  lay  down  their 
arms,  to  quit  their  ranks,  and  obey  in  everything 
that  would  be  enjoined  to  them.  Though  they  at 
once  threw  down  their  arms,  and  proceeded  to  the 
places,  to  which  they  were  ordered ;  nevertheless,  for 
a  little  while,  the  fire  of  the  artillery  was  kept  up, 
lest  with  the  cessation  of  the  cause  of  their  terror, 
their  rash  daring  should  return,  and  the  mutinous 
strife  be  renewed.  But  when  they  were  truly  and 
tlioroughly  frightened,  they  were  treated  with  con- 
temptuous impunity.  Thousands  of  men  allowed 
themselves  to  be  fettered,  who,  if  they  had  but  rather 
instead  have  tried  their  real  strength,  would,  beyond 
the  least  doubt,  have  become  the  victors  of  those  that 
vanquished  them.  But  it  is  God  that  scatters  the 
counsels  of  the  malignant,  that  they  may  not  prosper 
in  their  undertaking. 

When  the  ferocious  arrogance  with  which  they 
were  swollen  had  been  made  to  subside  completely, 
in  the  manner  we  have  just  narrated,  and  all  the 
accomplices  of  the  mutiny- had  been  cast  into  chains. 
General  Schachin  instituted  an  inquiry,  by  way  of 
torture,  touching  the  causes,  the  objects,  the  in- 
stigators, the  chiefs,  and  the  accomplices  of  this 
perilous  and  impious  machination.  For  there  was 
a  very  serious  suspicion  that  more  exalted  people 
were  at  the  head  of  it.  Every  one  of  them  freely 
confessed  himself  deserving  of  death ;  but  to  detail 
the  particulars   of  the  nefarious  plot,  to  lay  bare 


REVOLT  OF  THE  STRELITZ  25 

the  objects  of  it,  to  betray  their  accomplices,  was 
what  no  person  could  persuade  any  of  them  to  do. 

The  rack  was  consequently  got  in  readiness  by  the 
executioner,  as  the  only  means  left  to  elicit  the 
truth.  The  torture  that  was  applied  was  of  un- 
exampled inhumanity.  Scourged  most  savagely 
with  the  cat,  if  that  had  not  the  effect  of  breaking 
their  stubborn  silence,  fire  was  applied  to  their  backs, 
all  gory  and  streaming,  in  order  that,  by  slowly 
roasting  the  skin  and  tender  flesh,  the  sharp  pangs 
might  penetrate  through  the  very  marrow  of  their 
bones,  to  the  utmost  power  of  painful  sensation. 
These  tortures  were  applied  alternately,  over  and 
over  again.  Horrid  tragedies  to  witness  and  to 
hear.  In  the  open  field  above  thirty  of  these  more 
than  funeral  pyres  blazed  at  the  same  time,  and 
thereat  were  these  most  wretched  creatures  under 
examination  roasted  amidst  their  horrible  bowlings. 
At  another  side  resounded  the  merciless  strokes  of 
the  cat,  while  this  most  savage  butchery  of  men  was 
being  done  in  this  very  pleasant  neighborhood. 

After  numbers  had  been  proved  by  the  torture,  at 
last  the  obstinacy  of  a  few  was  found  to  yield ;  and 
one  of  them  detailed  the  following  particulars  of  this 
most  perverse  plot.  He  said  that  he  was  not  un- 
aware how  great  their  fault  was,  that  all  had  de- 
served to  lose  their  lives,  and  that  perhaps  none 
would  be  found  that  would  shirk  death.  That  had 
fortune  attended  their  undertaking  they  would  have 


26   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

decreed  the  same  penalty  against  the  Boyars,  as, 
now  they  were  vanquished,  they  expected  themselves ; 
for  that  they  had  the  intention  to  set  on  fire,  sack 
and  ruin  the  whole  German  suburb,  and  when  all  the 
Germans,  without  exception,  had  been  got  rid  of  by 
massacre,  to  enter  Moscow  by  force,  to  murder  all 
that  would  make  resistance,  taking  the  rest  with 
them  to  aid  in  their  nefarious  deeds ;  that  they  meant 
to  inflict  death  upon  some  of  the  Boyars,  exile  upon 
others,  and  to  drag  them  all  down  from  their  offices 
and  dignities,  in  order  the  more  easily  to  conciliate 
to  themselves  the  sympathies  of  the  masses.  That 
some  popes  were  to  carry  an  image  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  another  of  St.  Nicholas,  before  them,  in 
order  that  it  might  appear  that  they  had  been  driven 
to  take  up  arms  by  the  necessity  of  defending  the 
faith,  and  not  out  of  malice.  That  when  they  had 
got  possession  of  authority  they  meant  to  scatter 
papers  among  the  public,  to  assure  the  people  that 
the  Czar's  majesty,  who  had  gone  abroad,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  pernicious  advice  of  the  Germans, 
had  died  beyond  seas.  But  that  lest  the  barque  of 
the  State  should  be  buffeted  at  hazard  by  the  billows 
to  perish  a  wreck  upon  the  first  rock,  that  Princess 
Sophia  Alexiowna-was  to  be  raised  to  the  throne  until 
the  Czarewicz  should  have  attained  his  majority  and 

the  strength  of  manhood,  that  Basil  Galizin  ^  was  to 
2  See  Appendix. 


REVOLT  OF  THE  STRELITZ  27 

have  been  recalled  from  exile,  to  aid  Sophia  with 
prudent  advice. 

Now,  as  any  one  of  the  points  of  this  confession 
was  of  itself  weighty  enough  to  merit  death.  General 
Schachin  had  the  sentence  that  was  drawn  up  against 
them,  promulgated  and  executed.  Numbers  were 
condemned  to  be  hanged  and  gibbeted;  many  laid 
their  heads  upon  the  fatal  block  and  died  by  the 
ax,  many  were  reserved  to  certain  vengeance,  and 
laid  in  custody  in  places  in  the  environs.  It  was 
contrary  to  General  Gordon's  and  Prince  Masatski's 
advice  that  the  General  proceeded  to  execute  the 
rebels ;  as  in  this  manner  the  chiefs  of  the  revolt  may 
without  sufficient  examination,  have  been  removed, 
by  premature  death,  from  further  inquest.  Hence 
he  drew  upon  himself,  not  undeservedly,  the  fury  of 
a  more  wary  avenger,  when,  amidst  the  gayeties  of 
a  royal  banquet  he  would  have  died  tlie  death,  had 
not  the  stout  arm  of  General  Lefort  drawn  back  and 
refrained  the  hand  that  was  descending  to  the  stroke. 
But,  at  the  time  in  question,  Schachin  was  of  a  dif- 
ferent opinion,  believing  that  timely  severity  would 
have  the  salutary  consequence  of  restoring  to  the 
minds  of  numbers  reverence  for  the  monarch  and 
fear  of  punishment.  And  for  this  reason  —  to 
strike  terror  into  the  rest  by  an  example  of  public 
vengeance  —  he  on  one  day  broke  seventy,  and  an- 
other ninety,  upon  the  cross  they  so  richly  deserved. 


28   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

How  sharp  was  the  pain,  how  great  the  indigna- 
tion to  which  the  Czar's  Majesty  was  mightily 
moved,  when  he  knew  of  the  rebeUion  of  the  Strehtz, 
betrayed  openly  a  mind  panting  for  vengeance.  He 
was  still  tarrying  at  Vienna,  quite  full  of  the  desire 
of  setting  out  for  Italy ;  but,  fervid  as  was  this 
curiosity  of  rambling  abroad,  it  was  nevertheless, 
speedily  extinguished  on  the  announcement  of  the 
troubles  that  had  broken  out  in  the  bowels  of  his 
realm.  Going  immediately  to  Lefort  (the  only  per- 
son almost  that  he  condescended  to  treat  with  in- 
timate familiarity),  he  thus  indignantly  broke  out: 
"  Tell  me,  Francis,  son  of  James,  how  I  can  reach 
Moscow,  by  the  shortest  way,  in  a  brief  space,  so 
that  I  may  wreak  vengeance  on  this  great  perfidy  of 
my  people,  with  punishments  worthy  of  their  fla- 
gitious crime.  Not  one  of  them  shall  escape  with 
impunity.  Around  my  royal  city,  of  which,  with 
their  impious  efforts,  they  meditated  the  destruction, 
I  will  have  gibbets  and  gallows  set  upon  the  walls 
and  ramparts,  and  each  and  every  of  them  will  I  put 
to   a  direful   death." 

Nor  did  he  long  delay  the  plan  for  his  justly  ex- 
cited wrath;  he  took  the  quick  post,  as  his  ambas- 
sador suggested,  and  in  four  weeks'  time,  he  had  got 
over  about  three  hundred  miles  ^  without  accident, 
and  arrived  on  the  4th  of  September,  a  monarch  for 
the  well-disposed,  but  an  avenger  for  the  wicked. 

3  German  miles,  each  equal  to  about  five  English. —  Transl. 


REVOLT  OF  THE  STRELITZ  29 

His  first  anxiety,  after  his  arrival,  was  about  the 
rebellion.  In  what  it  consisted?  What  the  insurg- 
ents meant?  Who  had  dared  to  instigate  such  a 
crime?  And  as  nobody  could  answer  accurately 
upon  all  points,  and  some  pleaded  their  own  igno- 
rance, others  the  obstinacy  of  the  Strelitz,  he  began 
to  have  suspicions  of  everybody's  loyalty,  and  began 
to  cogitate  about  a  fresh  investigation.  The  rebels 
that  were  kept  in  custody,  in  various  places  in  the 
environs,  were  all  brought  in  by  four  regiments  of 
guards,  to  a  fresh  investigation  and  fresh  tortures. 
Prison,  tribunal,  and  rack,  for  those  that  were 
brought  in,  was  in  Bebraschentsko.  No  day,  holy  or 
profane,  were  the  inquisitors  idle;  every  day  was 
deemed  fit  and  lawful  for  torturing.  As  many  as 
there  were  accused  there  were  knouts,  and  every  in- 
quisitor was  a  butcher. 

Prince  Feodor  Jurowicz  Romadonowski  *  showed 
himself  by  so  much  more  fitted  for  his  inquiry,  as 
he  surpassed  the  rest  in  cruelty.  The  very  Grand 
Duke  himself,  in  consequence  of  the  distrust  he  had 
conceived  of  his  subjects,  performed  the  office  of 
inquisitor.  He  put  the  interrogatories,  he  ex- 
amined the  criminals,  he  urged  those  that  were  not 
confessing,  he  ordered  such  Strelitz  as  were  more 
pertinaciously  silent,  to  be  subjected  to  more  cruel 
tortures;  those  that  had  already  confessed  about 
many  things  were  questioned  about  more;  those  who 

4  See  Appendix, 


30        COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

were  bereft  of  strength  and  reason,  and  almost  of 
their  senses,  by  excess  of  torment,  were  handed  over 
to  the  skill  of  the  doctors,  who  were  compelled  to 
restore  them  to  strength,  in  order  that  they  might 
be  broken  down  by  fresh  excruciations.  The  whole 
month  of  October  was  spent  in  butchering  the  backs 
of  the  culprits  with  knout  ai\d  with  flames :  no  day 
were  those  that  were  left  alive  exempt  from  scourg- 
ing or  scorching,  or  else  they  were  broken  upon  the 
wheel,  or  driven  to  the  gibbet,  or  slain  with  the  ax  — 
the  penalties  which  were  inflicted  upon  them  as  soon 
as  their  confessions  had  sufficiently  revealed  the 
heads  of  the  rebellion. 


IV 

RETURN  OF  THE  CZAR, 

5th  September,  1698. —  The  report  of  the  Czar's 
arrival  had  spread  through  the  city.  The  Boyars 
and  principal  Muscovites  flocked  in  numbers  at  an 
early  hour  to  the  place  where  it  had  become  known 
he  had  spent  the  night,^  to  pay  their  court.  Great 
was  the  crowd  of  congratulators,  who  came  to  prove, 
by  the  promptitude  of  their  obsequiousness  the  con- 
stancy of  their  spotless  loyalty  to  their  sovereign. 
Although  the  chief  ambassador,  Francis,  son  of 
James  Lefort,  would  receive  nobody  that  day,  al- 
leging the  fatigue  occasioned  by  such  long  and  un- 
interrupted traveling,  nevertheless  his  Majesty  the 
Czar  received  all  that  came,  with  an  alacrity  that 
showed  as  if  he  wished  to  be  beforehand  with  his 
subjects  in  eagerness.  Those  who,  according  to  the 
fashion  of  that  country,  would  cast  themselves  upon 
the  ground  to  worship  majesty,  he  lifted  up  gra- 
ciously from  their  groveling  posture,  and  embraced 
with  a  kiss,  such  as  is  only  due  among  private 
friends.     If    the    razor,    that    plied    promiscuously 

1  He  had  stayed  at  the  house  of  Miss  Mods  (see  Appendix). 
31 


32        COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

among  the  beards  of  those  present,  can  be  forgiven 
the  injury  it  did,  the  Muscovites  may  truly  reckon 
that  day  among  the  happiest  of  their  lives.  Knes 
Alexis  Simonowicz  Schachin,  General-in-Chief  of  the 
Czar's  troops,  was  the  first  who  submitted  the  en- 
cumbrance of  his  long  beard  to  the  razor. 

Nor  can  they  consider  it  any  disgrace,  as  their 
sovereign  is  the  first  to  show  the  example  —  their 
sovereign  to  whose  wish  or  command  they  deem  it  a 
holy  and  religious  command  to  devote  their  lives. 
Nor  was  there  anybody  left  to  laugh  at  the  rest. 
They  were  all  born  to  the  same  fate.  Nothing  but 
superstitious  awe  for  his  office  exempted  the  Patri- 
arch. Prince  Lehugowicz  Tzerkasky  was  let  off 
out  of  reverence  for  his  advanced  years,  and  Tichon 
Nikitowicz  Stresnow  out  of  the  honor  due  to  one 
who  had  been  guardian  to  the  Czarine.  All  the  rest 
had  to  conform  to  the  guise  of  foreign  nations,  and 
the  razor  eliminated  the  ancient  fashion.  In  speak- 
ing of  the  foreign  sovereigns  he  had  visited,  he  made 
honorable  mention  of  the  King  of  Poland.  "  I  prize 
him  more  than  the  whole  of  you  together,"  (he  was 
addressing  his  Boyars  and  magnates  that  were  pres- 
ent) "  and  that  not  because  of  his  royal  preemi- 
nence over  you,  but  merely  because  I  like  him." 

Such  was  the  effect  of  the  three  days  during  which 
he  enjoyed  the  King's  societ3\  He  still  proudly 
wore  the  King's  arms,  which  he  had  exchanged  with 
that  monarch  for  his  own,  in  order  to  proclaim  that 


RETURN  OF  THE  CZAR  33 

their  bond  of  pledged  friendship  is  more  solid  than 
the  Gordian  knot,  and  never  to  be  severed  with  the 
sword. 

6th  September,  1698. —  The  Czar  inspected  his 
troops  at  exercise;  and  seeing  at  a  glance  how  back- 
ward they  were  as  compared  with  other  soldiers,  he 
went  himself  through  all  the  attitudes  and  move- 
ments of  the  manual  exercise,  teaching  them  by  his 
own  motions  how  they  should  endeavor  to  form  their 
heavy  clumsy  bodies.  Tired  at  last  with  the  uncouth 
horde,  he  went  off  with  a  bevy  of  Boyars  to  a  dinner 
which  he  had  ordered  at  his  Ambassador  Lefort's. 
Salvos  of  artillery  mingled  with  the  shouts  of  the 
drinkers,  and  the  pleasures  of  the  table  were  pro- 
tracted to  a  late  hour  of  the  evening.  Then,  taking 
advantage  of  the  shades  of  night,  attended  by  a 
very  few  of  those  in  whom  he  reposes  most  confidence, 
he  went  into  the  Castle  of  the  Kremlin,  where  he 
indulged  a  father's  affection  in  seeing  his  darling 
little  son,  kissed  him  thrice,  and  leaving  many  other 
pledges  of  endearment,  returned  to  his  wooden  dwel- 
ling in  Bebraschentsko,  flying  the  sight  of  his  wife, 
the  Czarine,  whom  he  dislikes  with  a  loathing  of  old 
date. 

The  Czar's  ministry  had  a  friendly  hint  given  to 
the  Lord  Envoy  to  abstain  a  little  from  appearing 
in  public,  and  not  to  allow  those  of  his  household  to 
go  out  of  doors  too  much;  that  it  was  necessary  to 
yield  so  much  to  custom  in  order  not  to  risk  the 


S4>       COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

high  esteem  which  he  had  hitherto  won  from  every- 
body. 

8th  September,  1698. —  His  Majesty  the  Czar 
was  reported  to  have  graciously  favored  his  most 
serene  wife  with  a  secret  conversation  of  four  hour's 
duration  in  a  strange  house,  but  the  rumor  was  ut- 
terly false;  others,  with  greater  show  of  truth, 
telling  that  it  was  Nathalia,  the  Czar's  favorite 
sister. 

The  Lord  Envoy  asked  for  an  audience. 

11th  September,  1698. —  The  Russians  begin  their 
year,  according  to  the  old  calendar,  in  the  first  of 
September,  for  they  reckon  the  number  of  years  from 
the  creation  of  the  world.  Moreover,  a  venerable 
custom  used  to  mark  this  daj'  among  the  Russians 
by  a  great  and  ancient  solemnity.  In  the  most 
spacious  courtyard  of  the  Castle  of  the  Kremlin, 
two  thrones,  most  richly  adorned,  used  to  be  erected 
for  the  Czar  and  the  Patriarchs.  The  latter  in  the 
splendor  of  his  pontificals,  the  former  in  his  royal 
robes,  sat  in  these  thrones,  adding  by  the  grandeur 
of  this  attire  to  that  reverence  for  majesty  which, 
even  without  that  outward  adornment,  the  people 
looked  up  to  as  a  kind  of  divinity  that  only  seldom 
appears.  After  a  solemn  benediction  given  by  the 
Patriarch,  the  congratulations  of  the  magnates  and 
other  chief  persons  were  borne  to  the  Czar,  who  re- 
turned thanks  with  a  nod  for  their  good  wishes. 
The  absence  of  the  Czar  for  many  years  had  oc- 


RETURN  OF  THE  CZAR  35 

casioned  the  intermission  of  these  rites,  and,  with 
the  new-fangled  ambition  of  our  daj^s,  they  were 
left  unrevived  as  things  worn-out  and  obsolete.  It 
was  considered  that  the  worship  of  by-gone  genera- 
tions w?,s  needlessly  superstitious  in  allowing  majesty 
to  be  wrapped  up  with  so  many  sacred  rites. 
Nevertheless  a  jolly  inauguration  of  the  year  took 
place  in  a  banquet  prepared  with  royal  munificence 
at  the  house  of  General-in-Chief  Schachin.  A 
crowd  of  Boyars,  scribes,  and  military  officers,  al- 
most incredible,  was  assembled  there,  and  among  them 
were  several  common  sailors,  with  whom  the  Czar 
repeatedly  mixed,  divided  apples,  and  even  honored 
one  of  them  by  calling  him  brother.  A  salvo  of 
twenty-five  great  guns  marked  each  toast.  Nor 
could  the  irksome  offices  of  the  barber  check  the 
festivities  of  the  day,  though  it  was  well  known  he 
was  enacting  the  part  of  jester  by  appointment  at 
the  Czar's  court.  It  was  of  evil  omen  to  make  show 
of  reluctance  as  the  razor  approached  the  chin,  and 
was  to  be  forthwith  punished  with  a  boxing  on  the 
ears.  In  this  way,  between  mirth  and  the  wine- 
cup,  many  were  admonished  by  this  insane  ridicule 
to  abandon  the  olden  guise. 

l^th  September,  1698. —  The  Prime  Minister, 
Nareskin,  sent  for  the  Lord  Envoy,  and  announced 
that  his  Majesty  the  Czar  had  appointed  to  admit 
him  to  an  audience  next  day. 

13th  September,  1698. —  At  four  in  the  afternoon 


36   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

we  went  with  a  most  splendid  train  to  audience.  It 
took  place  in  the  magnificent  house  which  the  Czar 
had  built  at  his  own  cost  and  presented  to  his  general 
and  admiral,  Lefort.  Numbers  of  magnates  were 
around  his  Majesty,  and  amidst  them  all  the  Czar 
stood  preeminent,  with  a  handsome  figure  and  lofty 
look  that  bespoke  the  latent  monarch.  The  Prime 
Minister  and  Dumnoi  Ukrainzow,  by  virtue  of  their 
functions,  stood  nearer  to  his  Majesty  than  the  rest. 
We  made  our  reverential  obeisances,  which  his 
Majesty  acknowledged  with  a  gracious  nod  which 
augured  kindness.  The  Lord  Envoy  had  directed 
that  two  letters  credential  should  be  carried  before 
him  to  be  exhibited  to  his  Majesty  the  Czar.  The 
first  was  borne  by  the  secretary,  the  other  by  the 
missionary,  Mr.  Francis  Emiliani,  as  having  special 
reference  to  his  affairs.  Presenting  them  with  a 
lowly  reverence,  the  Czar  graciously  took  them,  and 
then  admitted  the  Lord  Envoy,  and  all  the  officials 
of  the  embassy  and  the  missionaries  present,  to  kiss 
hands. 

After  this  followed  courteous  questions  touching 
our  most  august  master's  health  and  the  Lord  En- 
voy's, suitable  and  respectful  replies  to  which  closed 
the  audience. 

14th  September,  1698.— The  hymn  Te  Deum 
laudamus  was  sung  in  the  church,  amidst  the  clangor 
of  drums  and  trumpets,  for  the  Czar's  happy  re- 
turn.    His  Majesty  the  Czar  gave  orders  that  all 


RETURN  OF  THE  CZAR  37 

the  foreign  representatives,  the  Boyars,  and  other 
persons  distinguished  by  rank  or  favor,  should  be 
invited  to  a  grand  banquet,  given  at  his  Majesty's 
charges,  by  General  Lefort.  The  minister  of  Den- 
mark, in  consequence  of  having  incautiously  given 
up  his  credentials  when  asked  to  do  so  by  the  min- 
istry, has  been  refused  an  audience  of  his  Majesty 
the  Czar  on  his  return  ;  but  he  had  so  gained  the  good 
graces  of  General  Lefort,  that  he  was  admitted  into 
the  house  of  the  latter  to  kiss  hands  of  the  «Czar 
before  sitting  down  to  his  table.  In  like  manner 
the  envoy  of  Poland,  having  prematurely  given  up 
his  credentials,  subjected  himself  to  the  same  lot; 
so  that  losing  all  hope  of  an  audience,  and  begging 
to  be  at  least  admitted  to  kiss  hands,  he  obtained  his 
desire  in  a  little  closet  where  the  glasses  and  drink- 
ing-bowls  were  kept.  The  envoy  of  Denmark 
piqued  himself  greatly  on  his  victory,  vaunting  that 
he  had  been  allowed  the  precedency  because  he  was 
the  first  that  had  the  honor  of  kissing  hands.  As 
these  rivals  were  ambitiously  contending  about  pre- 
cedency, neither  willing  to  be  second  to  the  other, 
the  Czar,  in  a  passion,  made  use  of  a  word  familiar 
to  the  Muscovites  to  express  a  disorder  of  the  mind 
—  calling  them  Duraks." 

His  Majesty,  during  dinner,  addressing  the  com- 

2  Ti  durak  (literally:  Thou  donkey)  is  an  expression  still 
familiar  to  high  officials  in  Russia  up  to  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. 


38   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

pany,  was  painting  the  wretchedness  of  Poland  in 
terms  like  the  following :  "  At  Vienna  I  was  get- 
ting fat  with  good  cheer,  but  hungry  Poland  made 
me  quite  slender  again."  The  Polish  minister  said 
that  he  was  surprised  that  should  have  happened  to 
his  Majesty  the  Czar;  that  for  his  own  part  he  had 
been  brought  up  there,  and  had  come  hither  through 
that  country,  and  yet  had  managed  to  get  fat ;  and 
fat  he  was.  The  Czar  answered,  "  It  was  not  there, 
but  here  in  Moscow  that  you  crammed  yourself  " ; — 
alluding  to  the  free  maintenance  at  the  Czar's  cost 
upon  which  he  was  supported.  Dinner  was  not  j^et 
over,  when  his  Majesty  left  the  room  in  a  rage  with 
his  general-in-chief,  Schachin,  with  whom  he  had 
been  warmly  disputing;  and  nobody  knew  what  he 
was  going  to  do.  It  was  known  later  that  he  had 
gone  to  question  the  soldiers,  to  learn  from  them 
how  many  colonels  and  other  regimental  officers  that 
general-in-chief  had  made  without  reference  to  merit, 
merely  for  money.  In  a  short  time  when  he  came 
back,  his  wrath  had  grown  to  such  a  pitch  that  he 
drew  his  sword,  and  facing  the  general-in-chief,  hor- 
rified his  guests  with  this  threat :  "  By  striking 
thus,  I  will  mar  thy  mal-government." 

Boiling  over  with  well-grounded  anger,  he  ap- 
pealed to  Prince  Romadonowski,  and  Dumnoi  Miki- 
tim  Mosciwicz ;  but  finding  them  excuse  the  general- 
in-chief,  he  grew  so  hot  that  he  startled  all  the  guests 
by  striking  right  and  left,  he  knew  not  where,  with 


RETURN  OF  THE  CZAR  39 

his  drawn  sword.  Knes  Romadonowski  had  to  com- 
plain of  a  cut  finger,  and  another  of  a  slight  wound 
on  the  head.  Mikitim  ]\Iosciwicz  was  hurt  in  the 
hand  as  the  sword  was  returning  from  a  stroke.  A 
blow  far  more  deadly  was  aiming  at  the  general-in- 
chief,^  who  beyond  a  doubt  would  have  been  stretched 
in  his  gore  by  the  Czar's  right  hand,  had  not  Gen- 
eral Lefort  (who  was  almost  the  only  one  that  might 
have  ventured  it),  catching  the  Czar  in  his  arms, 
drawn  back  liis  hand  from  the  stroke.  But  the  Czar, 
taking  it  ill  that  any  person  should  dare  to  hinder 
him  from  sating  his  most  just  wrath,  wheeled  round 
upon  the  spot,  and  struck  his  unwelcome  impeder  a 
hard  blow  on  the  back.  He  is  the  only  one  that 
knew  what  remedy  to  apply ;  none  of  the  Muscovites 
is  more  beloved  by  the  Czar  than  he.  They  say  he 
has  been  raised  up  from  the  lowest  condition  to  this 
envied  pinnacle  of  authority.  This  man  so  miti- 
gated his  ire,  that  threatening  only,  he  abstained 
from  murder. 

Merriment  followed  this  dire  tempest:  the  Czar, 
with  a  face  full  of  smiles,  was  present  at  the  danc- 
ing ;  and,  to  show  his  mirth,  commanded  the  musicians 
to  play  the  tunes  to  which  (so  he  said)  he  had  danced 
at  his  most  beloved  lord  and  brother's,  when  that 
most    august    host    was    entertaining    guests.     Two 

3 "  Schein,"  or,  as  the  Diarist  writes  the  name,  "  Schachin," 
evidently  following  the  spelling  adopted  by  the  Russians  to 
express  the  sound  of  the  name.    See  Appendix. 


40        COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

young  ladies  departing  by  stealth  were,  at  an  order 
of  the  Czar,  brought  back  by  soldiers.  Again, 
twenty-five  great  guns  saluted  the  toasts,  and  the 
hilarity  of  the  fete  was  protracted  till  half-past  five 
in  the  morning. 

16th  September,  1698. —  The  Lord  Envoy  called 
on  the  Dumnoi  Ukrainzow,  to  treat  of  certain  mat- 
ters of  moment.  The  missionaries,  Francis-Xavier 
Loeffler  and  Paul-Joseph  Jarosch,  were  also  present 
to  offer  thanks  for  having  obtained  leave  to  go  away 
at  last.'* 

About  two  o'clock  came  a  Pristaw,  dressed  in  a 
green  pelisse  of  silk  and  fur  of  sables,  which  is  given 
to  them  with  the  obligation  of  returning  it  to  the 
Czar's  treasury,  whence  upon  occasions  like  the  pres- 
ent it  is  produced  from  an  inner  chamber.  He  was 
accompanied  by  the  vice-prefects  of  the  Czar's 
kitchen  and  cellars,  attended  by  some  clerks  of  the 
ambassadorial  chancery,  and  followed  by  the  twelve 
semsJcoi  (persons  belonging  to  the  Czar's  kitchens), 
clad  in  dresses  ornamented  with  silk,  over  which  they 
wore  linen;  then  in  long  processional  train  by  two 
hundred  soldiers,  bearing  the  Czar's  dainty  dishes, 
and  carrying  likewise  drinkables,  brandy,  wine,  mead 
of  various  kinds,  beer,   and  guass.     They  laid  the 

4  Before  the  reign  of  Peter  I.,  foreigners  who  went  into 
Russia  were  never  allowed  to  leave  that  country  again.  Peter 
I.  changed  this  extraordinary  system,  in  order  to  favor  the 
introduction  of  arts  and  manufactures,  at  the  solicitation  of 
his  faithful  favorite,  General  Lefort. 


RETURN  OF  THE  CZAR  41 

table.  The  cloth  was  of  the  finest  possible  texture; 
there  was  one  little  gold  salt  cellar,  two  other  ves- 
sels, also  of  gold,  one  of  them  with  pepper,  and  the 
other  with  salt.  Near  the  table  there  was  an  orna- 
mental sideboard  for  the  Czar's  plate ;  cups  of  vari- 
ous dimensions  were  set  upon  it,  the  largest  measur- 
ing at  least  an  ell.  These  vessels  were  arrayed  in 
pairs,  a  smaller  and  a  larger  one  being  always 
together ;  and  the  whole  sideboard,  laid  out  with  so 
many  great  cups  of  silver  and  silver  gilt,  looked  like 
an  organ.  Near  the  sideboard,  on  benches  against 
the  wall,  glittered  two  huge  vases,  one  of  pewter, 
the  other  of  silver  gilt.  Not  far  from  this  lay  a 
cask,  containing  about  two  gallons  of  guass.  Every- 
thing being  in  this  order,  the  Pristaw  began  reading 
the  prescribed  formulary  of  civility  in  the  name  of 
his  Majesty  the  Czar,  as  follows: — "His  Majesty 
the  Czar,  our  most  puissant  master,  highly  esteems 
his  ever-to-be-entirely-cultivated  eternal  friendship 
with  his  Majesty  the  Emperor,  and  greets  thee  his 
envoy,  and  of  his  especial  bounty  makes  thee  parti- 
cipator of  his  table." 

The  Lord  Envoy  replied :  "  I  give  the  deepest 
thanks  to  his  Majesty  the  Czar  for  this  clement 
liberality  of  his  Majesty's  table,  and  not  only  shall 
I  account  it  among  the  greatest  of  favors,  but  I 
will  also  in  my  first  most  humble  dispatches  extol  it 
to  his  sacred  Imperial  INIajesty,  my  most  clement 
lord,  with  that  submissive  devotion  which  I  ought.'* 


42   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

After  this  an  agate  vessel,  full  of  most  precious 
brandy,  was  produced,  and  a  tiny  cup  made  out  of  a 
ruby,  which  the  Pristaw  filled.  They  then  sat  down 
to  table:  the  Lord  Envoy  had  the  place  of  honor, 
the  Pristaw  had  the  second.  Mr.  Carbonari  and 
Mr.  Pleyer,  and  the  four  missionaries,  had  been  in- 
vited; and  besides  these,  all  the  Lord  Envoy's  offi- 
cials. To  these  brandy  was  handed  round  after  they 
had  sat  down.  Then  the  viands  were  brought  in. 
Among  the  roasts  was  a  swan;  there  were  no  less 
than  a  hundred  and  eight  dishes  counted,  but  ex- 
cessively few  that  a  German  palate  could  relish. 
The  Pristaw's  first  toast  was  to  the  health  of  his 
sacred  Majesty  the  Emperor;  the  second,  the  health 
of  his  Majesty  the  Czar ;  the  third,  the  health  of 
the  faithful  ministers  of  the  most  august  Emperor 
and  the  most  serene  Czar.  The  wily  Pristaw  had 
tried  to  derange  this  order,  and  had  asked  the  Lord 
Envoy  to  fill  a  cup  and  propose  a  toast  to  the  health 
of  somebody:  but  he  took  nothing  by  his  misplaced 
subtlety;  for  the  Lord  Envoy  replied  that  he  was 
not  thirsty,  and  that  it  was  not  his  part  as  guest  to 
propose  a  toast ;  let  him,  as  he  was  playing  the  part 
of  host  in  the  Czar's  name,  fulfill  his  office  as  he 
thought  right.  There  was  a  crowd  of  Muscovites 
standing  by,  who  had  flocked  into  the  room  to  serve 
and  pay  their  court,  to  all  of  whom,  as  they  came  up 
in  turn,  each  according  to  his  condition,  the  Lord 
Envoy   handed   a  cup   of  wine  with  his   own  hand. 


RETURN  OF  THE  CZAR  43 

wliich,  according  to  established  custom,  ended  dinner 
and  these  ceremonies  of  state. 

18th  September,  1698, —  Colonel  de  Grage  gave  a 
sumptuous  entertainment  to-day,  which  his  Majesty 
the  Czar  was  graciously  pleased  to  honor  with  his 
presence,  though  his  gums  were  swollen  with  a  tooth- 
ache. General  Gordon,  at  the  time  of  the  Czar's 
unexpected  arrival,  was  at  his  country  seat,  distant 
about  thirty  miles  from  the  city ;  and  having  heard 
of  it,  he  came  to  this  dinner  to-day  to  pay  his  court. 
He  bowed  down  to  the  earth  twice,  and  was  begging 
pardon  for  being  so  late  to  pay  his  court,  imputing 
the  delay  to  the  broken  weather  and  storms.  His 
Majesty  the  Czar  raised  him  up,  and  when  he  would 
have  embraced  his  knees,  stretched  him  his  hand 
instead.  The  Lord  Envoy  was  fortunate  enough 
not  only  to  be  at  the  dinner,  but  enjoyed  the  fur- 
ther privilege  of  being  at  the  supper  which  the  Czar 
had  commanded  to  be  prepared  for  himself :  and  none 
others  besides  the  Lord  Envoy  were  admitted  to  the 
latter  except  the  three  generals,  Lefort,  Gordon,  and 
Carlowitz.^  The  Czar  never  showed  himself  more 
frankly  gay ;  perhaps  because  none  of  the  Boyars  or 
anybody  else  was  present  to  trouble  the  sensations 
of  joy  with  evil  eye. 

20th  September,  1698. —  A  Czar's  entertainment 
was  given  to  the  representatives  of  Poland  and  Den- 
mark.    The  Pole  got   twenty-five  dishes,   the  Dane 

5  See  Appendix. 


44   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

only  twenty-two,  and  both  had  six  gallons  of  drink- 
ables of  various  kinds.  It  seems  the  ministry  wanted 
to  cut  short  the  controversy  about  prerogative 
which  the  Dane  had  moved  against  the  Pole.  For 
the  Pole  was  honored  with  the  first  entertainment, 
and  the  greater  number  of  the  viands  battled  in  his 
favor  too.  The  Dane  found  it  very  sour  of  diges- 
tion to  be  held  inferior  to  the  Pole:  he  could  not 
endure  that  others  should  have  made  such  a  distinc- 
tion as  was  made  in  the  difference  of  this  entertain- 
ment. 

The  Patriarch  cast  upon  others  the  blame  that  the 
Czarina  was  not  yet  shut  up  in  a  monastery,  and  the 
consequent  contempt  of  the  Czar's  commands :  his 
Majesty  the  Czar's  indignation  at  which  was  so  fiery 
that  he  ordered  the  archimandrite  and  four  popes, 
to  whose  charge  the  Patriarch  imputed  it,  to  be  set 
upon  little  carts  by  soldiers,  and  dragged  to  Bebra- 
schentsko  by  night. 

As  his  evil  star  would  have  it,  one  from  the  Em- 
peror's mines,  by  name  Urban,  far  gone  in  his  cups, 
was  going  on  horseback  to  the  German  suburb  where 
he  dwelt.  A  saucy  Russian  attacked  him,  first  with 
abusive  language,  and  then  with  bodily  violence. 
Urban  losing  patience,  and  indignant  at  being  in- 
sulted by  such  a  filthy  rascal,  began  repelling  force 
by  force,  and  using  the  natural  right  of  defense 
against  his  assailant,  drew  a  pistol  to  defend  him- 
self —  the   first   weapon  which  anger   and   want   of 


RETURN  OF  THE  CZAR  45 

self-possession  suggested  to  the  drunken  man.  The 
ball  which  he  wildly  fired  at  his  assailant  merely 
grazed  the  fellow's  head;  there  was  not  the  least 
sign  of  the  wound  being  dangerous ;  but  lest  the  com- 
plaints of  a  man  wounded  should  be  fussed  with  a 
great  noise  to  the  Czar's  Majesty,  and  be  made  a 
great  affair  of,  Urban  came  to  an  amicable  agree- 
ment with  the  fellow  (who  was  most  in  fault  him- 
self) for  four  roubles  to  sa}^  nothing  about  it. 
]\Ieantime  hints  of  the  accident  were  reported  to  the 
Czar.  Urban  was  arrested,  accused  of  a  capital 
crime  —  the  offended  law  must  be  publicly  vindi- 
cated, and  private  agreements  could  not  be  allowed 
to  interrupt  its  course  —  for  that  it  was  a  case  that 
fell  within  the  clause,  zvhosoever  shall  with  hostile 
intent  unsheath  a  sivord  or  knife,  or  draw  a  javelin, 
or  other  deadly  instrument  against  another,  eveit 
though  death  should  not  ensue, —  not  even  drunken- 
ness shall  excuse  him  if  we  yield  to  Muscovite  reason- 
ing. His  very  Majesty  the  Czar,  when  some  per- 
sons were  putting  forward  the  man's  drunkenness  as 
a  palliation  of  his  offense,  openly  used  these  words: 
Sauffen,  rauffen,^  might  be  excusable;  but  sauffen, 
schiessen,  could  not  be  allowed  to  go  unpunished. 
By  which  apparently  he  meant  to  insinuate  that 
drunken  people  were  pardonable  if  they  only  used 
their   hands    in    their   quarrels,    but   not    vhen    they 

6  Sauffen,  rauffen,  etc.,  i.  e.   drunken  scufjUng  might  be  ex- 
cused; but  drunken  shootinr/  must  not  go  unpunished. 


46   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

fought  with  tlicir  arms.  Whence  I  infer  that  half- 
drunkenness  among  the  Muscovites  deserves  favor, 
but  total  drunkenness  chastisement. 

22nd  September,  1698. —  Letting  the  wretched 
Urban  off  capital  punishment,  they  condemned  him 
to  the  knout  (which  is  a  frightful  kind  of  scourge). 
This  by  renewed  intercession  the  Lord  Envoy  saved 
him  from. 

23rd  September,  1698. —  Here  are  the  principal 
guests  that  came  to  a  sumptuous  dinner  given  by 
the  Lord  Envoy  of  the  Emperor :  the  envoy  of  Den- 
mark, General  Lefort  and  his  kinsman,  General  Gor- 
don and  his  son,  Major-General  Garlowicz,  Colonels 
de  Grage  and  Bhimberg,  the  Swedish  commissioner 
Knipper,  the  Danish  commissioner  Baudenan,  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Colon,  and  on  the  pretext  of  intimacy 
thither  came  the  Boyar  Feodor  Madveowicz  Apraxin, 
who,  in  reward  for  his  good  administration,  was 
some  years  ago  confirmed  in  the  post  of  Voivode  of 
the  port  of  Archangel.  About  nightfall  in  came  a 
Muscovite  intruder,  unknown  to  any  of  the  guests, 
and,  as  far  as  could  be  judged  from  his  dress,  a 
common  person.  Having  falsely  told  that  he  had 
received  orders  from  the  ministry  to  inquire  whether 
his  Majesty  the  Czar  was  present,  or  would  soon 
come,  he  gave  rise  to  a  suspicion  of  some  deep  design 
of  mischief,  so  General  Lefort  questioned  the  fellow 
about  why  he  was  sent  and  who  sent  him;  and  when 
he  stammered  and  said  he  forgot  the  person's  name 


RETURN  OF  THE  CZAR  4T 

that  sent  him,  he  was,  after  some  boxes  on  the  ears, 
taken  by  the  soldiers  to  Bebraschentsko  to  be  more 
closely  examined  next  day. 

2Ji.t}i  September,  1698. —  An  archimandrite  sent  a 
present  to  the  Lord  Envoy  of  a  huge  loaf,  weighing 
thirty  pounds,  blessed  after  his  fashion.  Another 
monk  of  high  authority  had  added  brandy,  apples, 
nuts,  cherries,  all  preserved  in  spirits. 

29th  September,  1698.~The  Czar  himself  ex- 
amined a  certain  pope,  an  accomplice  in  the  revolt, 
who,  though  menaced  with  the  rack,  has  so  far  con- 
fessed nothing. 


STUBBORNNESS  OF  THE  MUSCOVITES 
UNDER  TORTURE 

WHAT  they  tell  of  the  unconquerable  stub- 
bornness of  this  race  under  the  most  ex- 
quisite tortures  is  scarcely  within  the  bounds  of 
credibility.  Before  the  Czar*s  travels  abroad,  one 
of  the  accomplices  of  the  revolt  of  1696  had  already 
four  times  borne  tortures  of  the  most  exquisite  agony 
without  the  least  confession  of  guilt ;  and  the  Czar, 
perceiving  that  tortures  were  of  no  avail,  turned  to 
enticements,  and  having  kissed  the  person  under  the 
question  thus  spoke  to  him :  — "  It  is  no  secret  to  me 
that  thou  hast  knowledge  of  the  treason  attempted 
against  me.  Thou  hast  been  punished  enough ;  now 
confess  of  thy  own  accord  out  of  the  love  that  thou 
owest  to  thy  Prince ;  and  by  that  God,  by  whose 
singular  grace  I  am  thy  Czar  and  Prince,  I  swear, 
not  alone  wholly  to  pardon  thy  guilt,  but  moreover, 
as  a  special  testimony  of  my  clemency,  to  make  thee 
a  colonel." 

This  strange  friendliness  of  such  a  mighty  Prince 
bent  the  fierce  nature  of  that  iron  man ;  and  taking 

the  freedom  of  returning  the  Czar's  embrace,  he  thus 

49 


50   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

began  — "  For  me  this  is  the  greatest  of  all  tortures ; 
by  no  other  shouldst  thou  have  ever  vanquished  my 
determination,"  and  thereupon  he  proceeded  to  un- 
fold at  great  length  the  whole  series  of  the  treason. 
The  Czar,  carried  away  with  wonder,  that  a  man 
who  had  remained  silent  under  such  awfully  cruel 
tortures,  should  be  so  softened  with  one  little  kind- 
ness, having  asked  him  how  he  could  have  borne  so 
many  strokes  of  the  knout  and  the  dreadful  torture 
of  fire  applied  to  his  back,  he  began  another  and 
more  stupendous  tale.  He  stated  that  he  and  his 
accomplices  had  founded  a  kind  of  association;  that 
nobody  was  admitted  into  it  without  being  previously 
tortured;  that  he  who  was  found  capable  of  bearing 
the  most  pain  was  afterwards  decreed  higher  honors 
by  the  others ;  that  a  person  who  was  only  once  tor- 
tured was  a  simple  associate  and  participator  in  the 
common  advantages ;  that  anybody  who  aspired  to  the 
higher  grades  of  distinction  was  not  to  receive  them 
until  he  had  undergone  fresh  tortures,  and  had 
proved  that  he  could  bear  more  in  proportion  to  the 
eminence  of  the  dignity;  that  he  had  been  tortured 
himself  six  times,  and  was  the  president  of  the  whole 
society ;  that  the  knout  was  a  mere  nothing ;  that  the 
roasting  of  the  flesh  after  knouting  was  nothing; 
that  he  had  had  to  go  through  far  more  cruel  pains 
among  his  associates :  "  for,"  continued  he,  "  the 
sharpest  pain  of  all  is  when  a  burning  coal  is  placed 
in  the  ear;  nor  is  it  less  painful  when  the  head  is 


STUBBORNNESS  OF  MUSCOVITES      51 

shaved,  and  extremely  cold  water  is  let  to  fall  slowly 
drop  by  drop  upon  it  from  a  height  of  two  ells." 

He  said  that  in  all  these  things  he  had  sui*passed 
himself  and  his  associates ;  and  that  those  who,  after 
being  aspirants  for  membership,  were  found  unable 
.to  go  through  the  first  tortures,  were  made  away  with 
by  poison,  or  in  some  other  way,  for  fear  they  should 
betray.  That  as  far  as  he  could  remember,  at  least 
four  hundred  such  inapt  candidates  had  been  killed 
by  himself  and  his  comrades.  Thus  this  fellow  bore 
ten  times  the  most  unheard  of  tortures ;  six  times 
from  his  associates,  and  four  times  in  the  inquiry 
before  the  Czar.  He  is  still  living,  and,  as  I  have 
set  down  above,  is  now  by  the  Czar's  clemency  a 
colonel  and  away  in  Siberia. 

A  case  of  similar  stubbornness  occurred  when  the 
Czar  was  returning  to  Moscow  from  Vienna.  He 
had  already  passed  Smolensk  and  was  approaching 
his  capital,  when  one  of  his  suite,  terrified  at  having 
committed  some  flagrant  act,  sought  safety  in  flight. 
The  inquirers  could  find  no  indication  of  the  direc- 
tion or  road  he  had  taken ;  when  at  length  a  peasant 
from  the  next  hamlet  came  and  said  that  indeed  he 
knew  no  particulars  about  the  fugitive,  but  that  he 
had  seen  a  horse  in  a  neighbor's  house.  The  Czar 
detained  the  informer,  and  sent  off  Mr.  Adam  Weyd 
to  the  house  designated,  to  obtain  more  positive  in- 
formation. He  saw  the  horse,  and  on  his  return  con- 
firmed the  peasant's  story  to  the  Czar. 


52        COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

So  the  owner  of  the  cottage  was  brought  up,  and 
the  Czar  inquired  civilly  of  him  about  the  man  and 
the  horse.  But  the  hind  denied  any  knowledge  of 
a  horse  being  at  his  house.  The  Czar  repeated  the 
question  in  a  grave  tone:  but  the  fellow  persisted  in 
his  denial.  The  Czar  urged  him  to  remember  that 
he  was  speaking  to  his  sovereign,  the  lord  of  his 
limbs,  in  whose  power  were  life  and  death.  But  the 
thick-skulled  clown  was  not  in  the  least  moved  by 
the  threat.  The  Czar  in  consequence  commanded 
him  to  be  thrown  down  on  the  ground  and  dreadfully 
beaten  from  head  to  foot  with  a  great  knotty  stick. 

When  on  further  interrogation  —  he  still  would 
confess  nothing,  he  was  again  most  violently  thrashed 
from  top  to  toe.  Still  the  fellow  remained  contu- 
maciously silent.  They  rolled  him  over  again  and 
almost  beat  him  to  a  mummy.  But  still  at  every 
invitation  of  the  knotty  club  the  mangled  rustic  lay 
like  a  block  and  stubbornly  denied. 

To  such  obstinate  stubbornness  are  the  souls  of 
these  Muscovites  hardened,  that  no  torments  —  nay, 
not  the  very  presence  of  their  sovereign  —  can  bend 
them  to  confess  the  most  manifest  truth.  For  it 
was  found  out  shortly  after  by  true  and  indubitable 
proof,  that  this  very  rustic  had  kept  the  horse,  and 
had  sent  off  the  fugitive,  with  his  brother  as  guide, 
by  secret  paths  beyond  Smolensk. 


VI 

PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  STRELITZ 

7th  October,  169S. —  Such  horrible  accounts  of 
the  tortures  daily  exercised  reached  the  Patriarch 
that  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  exhort  the  angered 
Czar  to  mansuetude.  He  thought  the  best  thing 
was  to  take  an  image  of  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin,  the 
sight  of  which  might  remind  him  of  the  common  lot 
of  man,  and  bring  back  the  common  feelings  of  pity 
to  a  mind  that  was  almost  degenerating  into  savag- 
ery. But  the  weights  of  real  justice  with  Avhich  his 
Majesty  the  Czar  measured  the  magnitude  of  this 
heinous  crime  were  not  to  be  altered  by  this  exhibition 
of  sham  piety.  For  it  had  come  to  that  pass  that 
Muscovy  was  only  to  be  saved  by  cruelty,  not  by 
pity.  Yet  is  this  severity  of  chastisement  falsely 
called  tyranny ;  for  sometimes  even  equity  and  sever- 
ity are  one  and  the  same:  more  particularly  when 
disease  or  obstinate  gangrene  has  taken  such  firm 
hold  of  the  members  that  there  remains  no  other 
remedy  for  the  general  health  of  the  body  politic 
than  iron  and  fire  to  cut  them  off.  Thus  the  Czar^s 
invective  against  the  Patriarch  was  not  unworthy  of 

53 


64   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

his  sovereign  office :  "  What  wilt  thou  with  thy 
image?  or  what  business  is  it  of  thine  to  come  here? 
Hence  forthwith,  and  put  back  that  image  in  the 
place  where  it  should  be  venerated.  Know,  that  I 
reverence  God  and  his  Most  Holy  Mother  more 
earnestly  perhaps  than  thou  dost.  It  is  the  duty 
of  my  sovereign  office,  and  a  duty  that  I  owe  to 
God,  to  save  my  people  from  harm,  and  to  prosecute 
with  public  vengeance  crimes  that  tend  to  the  com- 
mon ruin." 

The  same  day  a  Muscovite  chorister  was  charged 
with  having  held  secret  communication  in  his  own 
house  with  four  Strelitz  accused  of  lese-majesty;  and 
being  accused  already  of  another's  treason,  the  Czar 
himself,  attended  by  Prince  Romadonowski  and  Gen- 
eral Artemont,  put  him  to  the  question. 

9th  October,  1698. —  The  Czar  stood  godfather  to 
the  first-born  son  of  the  Danish  envoy,  and  gave 
him  the  name  of  Peter.  The  other  godfathers  were 
General  Lefort,  Major-General  Carlowitz,  the  Dan- 
ish Commissioner  Baudenan ;  and  the  godmothers,  the 
widow  of  the  late  General  Menzies,  the  wife  of  Col- 
onel Blumberg,  and  Miss  Mons.^  His  Majesty  wore 
an  open  countenance  throughout  the  ceremony, 
kissed  the  baby  when  it  cried  at  being  sprinkled  with 
the  christening  water,  most  clemently  accepted  a 
snufF  box  which  the  Danish  envoy  offered  him,  and 
1  See  Appendix. 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  STRELITZ      55 

did  not  sliame  to  rush  into  tlie  embraces  of  the  giver. 
ICnes  Boris  Alexiowicz  Gahzin  coming  there  in  the 
evening,  he  bade  him  welcome  with  a  kiss,  as  a  token 
of  his  great  friendliness.  But  catching  his  favorite 
Alexasca  -  dancing  with  his  sword  on,  he  taught  him 
the  fashion  of  laying  it  aside  by  inflicting  a  box,  to 
the  force  of  which  the  blood  that  spouted  abundantly 
from  his  nose  bore  witness.  The  same  comet  was 
near  falling  foul  of  Colonel  Blumberg,  and  the  more 
so  as,  neglecting  the  Czar's  admonition,  he  was  slow 
about  putting  off  his  sword  in  the  dance ;  but  at  his 
humble  entreaties  he  was  pardoned  this  transgres- 
sion. 

The  Czar  had  it  intimated  to  the  Lord  Envoy, 
through  the  3'ounger  Lefort,  that  he  would  execute 
vindictive  justice  upon  the  rebels  to-morrow. 

The  Chief  of  the  Rebellion. —  Major  Karpa- 
kow  was  said  to  be  as  far  beyond  the  other  rebels 
in  treason  as  he  was  in  official  rank.  So  after  being 
knouted,  fire  was  applied  to  roast  his  back  to  such  a 
degree  that  he  lost  both  speech  and  consciousness ; 
and  then,  as  it  was  feared  that  death  might  remove 
him  prematurely,  he  was  commended  to  the  skill  of 
the  Czar's  physician.  Dr.  Carbonari,  that  he  might 
apply  such  remedies  as  would  have  the  effect  of  re- 
storing his  expiring  strength,  and  as  soon  as  he  was 

2  The  founder  of  the  family  of  Menschikow.  See  also  Ap- 
pendix. 


56   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

in  some  degree  restored,  he  was  subjected  to  the 
question  anew,  and  fainted  away  under  the  sharpest 
tortures. 

Batska  Girin,  the  insurgent  ringleader,  after  un- 
dergoing four  times  the  most  exquisite  tortures,  con- 
fessing nothing,  was  condemned  to  be  hanged.  But 
on  the  very  day  appointed  for  his  execution,  there 
was  led  out  of  prison,  with  the  rebel  Strelitz,  to  the 
question,  a  certain  youth  of  twenty  years  of  age, 
on  being  confronted  with  whom,  he,  of  his  own  ac- 
cord, broke  his  stubborn  silence,  and  revealed  the 
counsels  of  the  traitors,  with  all  the  circumstances. 
Now  that  youth  of  twenty  had  fallen  in  by  chance 
with  these  rebels  near  the  borders  of  Smolensko,  and 
being  forced  to  wait  on  the  principal  instigators  of 
the  mutiny,  they  took  no  notice  of  his  listening,  nor 
was  his  presence  forbidden  even  when  they  used  to 
deliberate  about  the  success  of  their  nefarious  en- 
terprise. When  he  was  dragged  along  with  the 
rebels  before  the  tribunal,  he,  in  order  to  prove  his 
innocence  more  easily,  cast  himself  at  the  judge's 
feet,  and  with  the  most  ardent  sighs  implored  not  to 
be  subjected  to  the  torture  —  that  he  would  confess 
all  that  he  knew  with  the  most  exact  truth.  Batska 
Girin,  who  was  condemned  to  the  halter,  was  not 
hanged  before  having  made  his  judicial  confession; 
for  he  was  one  of  the  prime  rebels,  and  an  excellent 
witness  of  what  he  very  truly  detailed. 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  STRELITZ      57 

Boriska  Broskurad  was  executed  in  the  camp,  by 
command  of  General  iSchachin. 

Takuska,  who  had  been  chosen  first  Major  of  the 
White  Regimeint,  and  two  other  inferior  officers, 
among  whom,  as  they  were  approaching  Moscow,  a 
dispute  arose  which  occasioned  some  day's  delay, 
were  the  cause  of  their  own  destruction,  and  saved 
the  lives  of  all  well-disposed  people. 

Deacon  Ivan  Gabrielowicz  had,  some  years  pre- 
viously, courted  the  Princess  Marpha  to  yield  to  his 
passion.  The  rebels  would  have  this  fellow  married 
to  Marpha,"^  to  be  protector  of  the  Strelitz  or  high 
chancellor ;  but  in  consequence  of  the  sinister  turn 
of  their  criminal  undertaking,  his  funeral  and 
obsequies,  instead  of  his  nuptials,  marked  the 
event. 

Certain  popes  that  were  connected  with  the 
Strelitz  became  sharers  in  their  treason.  For  they 
put  up  prayers  to  God  to  favor  the  efforts  of  treason, 
and  it  was  they  who  carried  the  images  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  and  Saint  Nicholas  among  armed 
men,  and  who  had  promised  to  draw  the  people  to 
the  side  of  the  revolt,  under  the  pretense  of  the 
marked  justice  of  the  cause,  and  of  true  piety. 
Hence  one  of  them  was  hanged  by  the  Czar's  buf- 
foon, near  the  high  church  dedicated  to  the  most 
Holy   Trinity ;    another,   being   first   beheaded   with 

3  A  sister  of  Czar  Peter  and  Sophia. 


58   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

the  ax,  was  set  upon  the  wheel  near  the  same  place. 
Dumnoi  Diak  Jichon  Mosciwicz  (whom  the  Czar 
calls  his  patriarch)  was  forced  to  be  the  butcher  of 
the  latter. 

Sophia. —  Wherever  ambition  has  entered  into 
possession  there  is  no  room  for  justice.  For  ambi- 
tion has  always  reasons  to  allege  in  its  own  behalf, 
and  is  unmoved  at  the  gulf  that  lies  between  empire 
and  subjection.  Princess  Sophia  has  the  reputation 
of  having  intrigued,  for  the  last  fourteen  years, 
against  her  brother's  life,  and  has  already  been  the 
cause  of  several  seditious  movements.  She,  by  her 
open  schemes  and  factiousness,  drove  liim,  who  is  at 
once  her  sovereign  and  her  brother,  to  consult  for  his 
own  safety ;  especially  as  the  late  perils  bore  ample 
witness  that,  as  long  as  she  was  at  liberty,  there 
would  be  nothing  stable  in  Muscovy.  Shut  up  on 
this  account  in  the  monastery  of  Nuns,  watched  daily 
in  the  strictest  manner,  by  a  guard  of  the  Czar's 
troops,  nevertheless  the  wiles  of  this  most  ambitious 
princess  could  not  be  quite  guarded  against  by  all 
those  watchful  eyes.  She  promised  to  put  herself 
at  the  head  of  a  new  conspiracy  of  the  Strelitz,  and 
communicated  her  advice  to  them  —  suggesting  the 
manner  and  the  frauds  by  wliich  the  Strelitz  might 
bring  their  dark  and  malignant  designs  into  effect. 
She  was  interrogated  by  the  Czar  himself,  touching 
these  attempts,  and  it  is  still  uncertain  what  she 
answered.     But  this  much  is  certain  —  that  in  this 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  STRELITZ      59 

act  the  Czar's  Majesty  wept  for  liis  own  lot  and 
Sophia's.  Some  will  have  it  the  Czar  was  on  the 
point  of  sentencing  her  to  death,  and  used  this  argu- 
ment: "Mary  of  Scotland  was  led  forth  from 
prison  to  the  block,  by  command  of  her  sister  Eliza- 
beth, Queen  of  England, —  a  warning  to  me  to  ex- 
ercise my  power  over  Sophia."  Still  once  more  the 
brother  pardoned  a  sister's  crime,  and,  instead  of 
penalty,  enjoined  that  she  should  be  banished  to  a 
greater  distance,  in  some  monastery. 

It  was  rather  the  lust  of  sating  her  passions  than 
the  desire  of  transferring  dominion,  that  had  en- 
tangled Princess  iNIarpha  in  the  same  rebellious  ma- 
chinations. She  wanted  to  indulge  more  at  ease  in 
her  illicit  connection  with  Deacon  Ivan  Gabrielowicz,* 
whom  she  had  maintained  at  her  own  cost,  for  some 
3^ears,  for  that  purpose.  With  her  head  shaved,  she 
has  been  thrust  into  a  monastery  and  does  penance 
for  the  past. 

Fiera  and  Schukowa,  the  former  Sophia's,  the 
latter  Marpha's  confidential  chamber-woman,  were 
dragged  from  the  Czar's  Castle  to  Bebraschentsko 
—  the  place  of  inquisition  —  and  were  both  sub- 
jected to  the  torture.  When  Fiera,  stripped  naked 
to  the  loins,  was  being  scourged  with  what  they  call 
the  knout,  the  Czar  observed  that  she  was  pregnant ; 
and  on  being  asked  whether  she  knew  the  fact,  she 
did  not  deny  it,  and  moreover  indicated  a  certain 
*Souvarow  was  his  surname.    See  Appendix. 


60   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

chorister  as  the  cause  of  her  burden.  By  this  she 
liberated  herself  from  further  scourging  but  not 
from  the  penalty  of  death.  For,  afterwards,  she  and 
Schukowa,  who  had  undergone  a  long  scourging,  and 
had  confessed  her  share  in  the  operations  of  the 
traitorous  Princess,  both  expiated  their  crimes  with 
their  lives.  Nothing  is  yet  certain  about  the  man- 
ner of  their  execution :  some  will  have  it  that  they 
were  buried  up  to  the  neck  alive ;  others,  that  they 
were  thrown  into  the  river  langa  that  flows  just 
there. 

The  Correspondence  of  Sophia  with  the 
Rebels. —  No  garrison  is  safe  where  malice  and 
treason  have  once  adopted  the  idea  of  upsetting  the 
fortress.  Malice  is  never  a  moment  idle ;  examines 
minutely  every  smallest  nook  in  which  she  may  safely 
hide  the  emissaries  of  her  nefarious  designs.  It  was 
certainly  with  no  other  design  that  so  large  a  guard 
of  soldiers  kept  watch  and  ward,  day  after  day, 
without  the  monastery  of  Nuns,  than  to  observe, 
with  all  possible  minuteness,  this  dangerously  am- 
bitious Princess,  so  that  she  might  be  unable  to  plot 
anything  against  the  safety  of  the  state  and  the 
sovereign.  Yet  all  these  Argus  eyes  were  not  able 
to  hinder  her  from  trying  to  raise  a  truly  great  and 
most  perilous  flame  of  civil  war  by  means  of  an  abject 
wretched  little  mendicant  that  used  to  frequent  the 
very  guard.  This  was  a  little  old  woman  that  begged 
her    daily    bread.      Sophia    took    her    affections    by 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  STRELITZ      61 

storm  with  profuse  liberality  and,  with  promise  of 
higher  rewards,  seduced  her  to  forbidden  deeds. 

When  the  old  hag,  full  of  such  grand  hopes,  prom- 
ised to  execute  to  the  minutest  detail  all  her  lady's 
bidding,  Sophia  taught  her  what  to  guard  against 
and  what  to  do,  and  told  her  that  she  would  pretend 
to  give  her  a  loaf  as  her  usual  alms,  that  she  would 
bring  it  to  the  Strelitz  and  should  wait  to  see  whether 
they  would  entrust  her  with  any  answer.  There 
were  letters  enclosed  in  the  loaf,  in  which  she  assured 
the  rebels  that  she  would  make  strong  efforts  in  aid 
of  their  laudable  undertakings ;  let  them  only  come 
to  the  monastery,  slay  all  the  guards  that  would 
resist;  that  things  had  come  to  such  a  pass,  that 
there  was  no  happy  auspices  for  them  without  shed- 
ding blood.  The  rebels  in  like  manner  transmitted 
their  answers  to  Sophia  in  a  loaf.  The  thing  was 
done  several  times  and  the  soldiers  had  no  suspicion 
of  it  —  so  ingenious  is  malice  in  plotting  mischief. 
After  all  she  deceived  herself ;  and  that  loaf  which 
they  meant  to  make  the  bread  of  death  to  so  many 
innocent  people,  led  to  their  own  richly  deserved 
ruin,  and  was  most  fatal  to  themselves. 

The  First  Execution. —  10th  October,  169S. — 
To  this  exhibition  of  avenging  justice  the  Czar's 
Majesty  invited  all  the  ambassadors  of  foreign  sov- 
ereigns, as  it  were  to  assert  anew  on  his  return  that 
sovereign  prerogative  of  life  and  death  which  the 
rebels  had  disputed  with  him. 


62        COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

The  barracks  in  Bebraschentsko  end  in  a  bare 
field  which  rises  to  the  summit  of  a  rather  steep 
hill.  This  was  the  place  appointed  for  the  execu- 
tions. Here  were  planted  the  gibbet  stakes,  on 
which  the  foul  heads  of  these  confessedly  guilty 
wretches  were  to  be  set,  to  protract  their  ignominy 
beyond  death.  There  the  first  scene  of  the  tragedy 
lay  exposed.  The  strangers  that  had  gathered  to 
the  spectacle  were  kept  aloof  from  too  close  ap- 
proach; the  whole  regiment  of  guards  was  drawn  in 
array  under  arms.  A  little  further  off,  on  a  high 
tumulus  in  the  area  of  the  place,  there  was  a  multi- 
tude of  Muscovites,  crowded  and  crushing  together 
in  a  dense  circle.  A  German  Major  was  then  my 
companion ;  he  concealed  his  nationality  in  a  Mus- 
covite dress,  besides  which  he  relied  upon  his  military 
rank  and  the  liberty  he  might  take  in  consequence 
of  being  entitled  by  reason  of  his  being  in  the  service 
of  the  Czar  to  share  in  the  privileges  of  the  Mus- 
covites. He  mingled  with  the  thronging  crowd  of 
Muscovites,  and  when  he  came  back  announced  that 
five  rebel  heads  had  been  cut  off  in  that  spot  by  an 
ax  that  was  swung  by  the  noblest  arm  of  all  Mus- 
covy.^ The  river  Jausa  flows  past  the  barracks  in 
Bebraschentsko,  and  divides  them  in  two. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  this  stream  there  were  a 
hundred  criminals  set  upon  those  little  Muscovite 
carts   which   the  natives   call   Sbosek,   awaiting   the 

5  /.  e.  the  Czar  himself. 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  STRELITZ      63 

hour  of  the  death  they  had  to  undergo.  There  was 
a  cart  for  every  criminal,  and  a  soldier  to  guard 
each.  No  priestly  office  was  to  be  seen ;  as  if  the 
condemned  were  unworthy  of  that  pious  compassion. 
But  they  all  bore  lighted  tapers  in  their  hands,  not 
to  die  without  light  and  cross.  The  horrors  of  im- 
pending death  were  increased  by  the  piteous  lamenta- 
tions of  their  women,  the  sobbing  on  every  side,  and 
the  shrieks  of  the  dying  that  rung  upon  the  sad 
array.  The  mother  wept  for  her  son,  the  daughter 
deplored  a  parent's  fate,  the  wife  lamenting  a  hus- 
band's lot,  bemoaned  along  with  the  others,  from 
whom  the  various  ties  of  blood  and  kindred  drew 
tears  of  sad  farewell.  But  when  the  horses,  urged 
to  a  sharp  pace,  drew  them  off  to  the  place  of  their 
doom,  the  wail  of  the  women  rose  into  louder  sobs 
and  moans.  As  they  tried  to  keep  up  with  them, 
forms  of  expression  like  these  bespoke  their  grief,  as 
others  explained  them  to  me :  "  Why  are  you  torn 
from  me  so  soon.'^  Why  do  you  desert  me.''  Is  a 
last  embrace  then  denied  me?  Why  am  I  hindered 
from  bidding  him  farewell?  "  With  complaints  like 
these  they  tried  to  follow  their  friends  when  they 
could  not  keep  up  with  their  rapid  course.  From  a 
country  seat  belonging  to  General  Schachin  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  more  Strelitz  were  led  forth  to  die. 
At  each  side  of  all  the  city  gates  there  was  a  gibbet 
erected,  each  of  which  was  loaded  with  six  rebels  on 
that  day. 


64   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

When  all  were  duly  brought  to  the  place  of  execu- 
tion, and  the  half  dozens  were  duly  distributed  at 
their  several  gibbets,  the  Czar's  Majesty,  dressed  in 
a  green  Polish  cloak,  and  attended  by  a  numerous 
suite  of  Muscovite  nobles,  came  to  the  gate  where, 
by  his  Majesty's  command,  the  imperial  Lord  Envoy 
had  stopped  in  his  own  carriage,  along  with  the  rep- 
resentatives of  Poland  and  Denmark.  Next  them 
was  Major-General  de  Carlowiz,  who  had  conducted 
his  Majesty  on  his  way  from  Poland,  and  a  great 
many  other  foreigners,  among  whom  the  Muscovites 
mingled  round  about  the  gate.  Then  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  sentence  began,  the  Czar  exhorting  all 
the  bystanders  to  mark  well  its  tenor.  As  the  ex- 
ecutioner was  unable  to  dispatch  so  many  criminals, 
some  military  officers,  by  command  of  the  Czar,  came 
under  compulsion  to  aid  in  this  butcher's  task.  The 
guilty  were  neither  chained  nor  fettered;  but  logs 
were  tied  to  their  legs,  which  hindered  them  from 
walking  fast,  but  still  allowed  them  the  use  of  their 
feet.  They  strove  of  their  own  accord  to  ascend 
the  ladder,  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  towards  the 
four  quarters  of  the  world;  they  themselves  covered 
their  eyes  and  faces  with  a  piece  of  linen  (which  is 
a  national  custom)  ;  very  many  putting  their  necks 
into  the  halter  sprang  headlong  of  themselves  from 
the  gallows,  in  order  to  precipitate  their  end.  There 
were  counted  two  hundred  and  thirty  that  expiated 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  STRELITZ      65 

their    flagitious    conduct    by    halter    and    gibbet.® 

Second  Execution. —  IStli  October,  1698. —  Al- 
though all  those  that  were  accomplices  of  the  re- 
bellion were  condemned  to  death,  yet  the  Czar's 
Majesty  would  not  dispense  with  strict  investiga- 
tion. The  more  so  as  the  uni'ipe  years  of  judgment 
of  many  seemed  to  bespeak  mercy,  as  they  were,  as 
one  may  say,  rather  victims  of  error  than  of  deliber- 
ate crime.  In  such  case  the  penalty  of  death  was 
commuted  into  some  corporal  infliction  —  such  as, 
for  instance,  the  cutting  off  their  ears  and  noses, 
to  mark  them  with  ignominy  for  life  —  a  life  to  be 
passed,  not  as  previously,  in  the  heart  of  the  realm, 
but  in  various  and  barbarous  places  on  the  frontiers 
of  Muscovy.  To  such  places  fifty  were  transported 
to-day,  after  being  castigated  in  the  manner  pre- 
scribed. 

Third  Execution. —  17th  October,  1698. —  Only 
six  were  beheaded  to-day,  who  had  the  advantage  of 
rank  over  the  others,  if  rank  be  a  distinction  of 
honor  in  executed  criminals. 

It  was  reported  by  a  number  of  persons  that  to- 
day again  the  Czar  had  himself  executed  public 
vengeance  upon  some  traitors. 

The  tortures  —  most  atrocious  —  to  which  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Kolpakow  has  been  continually  sub- 
jected for  some  time,  so  rent  his  flesh  that  he  lost 
«  See  Appendix. 


66        COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

the  power  both  of  speech  and  motion.  In  conse- 
quence he  was  earnestly  commended  to  the  skill  and 
attention  of  the  Czar's  physician.  Through  negli- 
gence, the  doctor  had  left  a  knife  in  his  cell,  with 
which  he  had  probably  been  preparing  medicaments. 
Kolpakow,  indignant  that  the  vital  spark,  which  had 
almost  fled,  should  be  summoned  back  with  medicines 
for  no  other  end  than,  as  you  are  already  aware, 
that  he  might  be  subjected  afresh  to  more  cruel  tor- 
tures, drew  the  knife  across  his  throat,  hoping  to 
find  death  by  cutting  off  that  channel  of  life;  but 
when  his  hand  had  nearly  accomplished  the  deed,  his 
strength  failed  him,  and  he  was  cured  of  his  wound, 
and  to-day  was  dragged  back  again  to  the  torture. 

FouKTH  Execution. —  21st  October,  1698. —  To 
prove  to  all  the  people  how  holy  and  inviolable  are 
those  walls  of  the  city,  which  the  Strelitz  rashly 
meditated  scaling  in  a  sudden  assault,  beams  were 
run  out  from  all  the  embrasures  in  the  walls  near  the 
gates,  on  each  of  which  two  rebels  were  hanged.  This 
day  beheld  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  die  that 
death.  There  are  few  cities  fortified  with  as  many 
palisades  as  Moscow  has  given  gibbets  to  her  guard- 
ian Strelitz. 

Fifth  Execution.— ^5 rt^  October,  1698.— This 
differed  considerably  from  those  that  preceded. 
The  manner  of  it  was  quite  different,  and  hardly 
credible.  Three  hundred  and  thirty  at  a  time  were 
led  out  together  to  the  fatal  ax's   stroke,  and  em- 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  STRELITZ      67 

brued  the  whole  plain  with  native  but  impious  blood : 
for  all  the  Boyars,  Senators  of  the  realm,  Dimmoi, 
Diaks,  and  so  forth,  that  were  present  at  the  council 
constituted  against  the  rebel  Strelitz,  had  been  sum- 
moned by  the  Czar's  command  to  Bebraschensko, 
and  enjoined  to  take  upon  themselves  the  hangman's 
office.  Some  struck  the  blow  unsteadily,  and  with 
trembling  hands  assumed  this  new  and  unaccustomed 
task.  The  most  unfortunate  stroke  among  all  the 
Boyars  was  given  by  him  ^  whose  erring  sword  struck 
the  back  instead  of  the  neck,  and  thus  chopping  the 
Strelitz  almost  in  halves,  would  have  roused  him  to 
desperation  with  pain,  had  not  Alexasca  reached  the 
unhappy  wretch  a  surer  blow  of  an  ax  on  the  neck. 

Prince  Romadonow^ski,  under  whose  command  pre- 
vious to  the  mutiny  these  four  regiments  were  to  have 
watched  the  turbulent  gatherings  in  Poland  on  the 
frontier,  beheaded,  according  to  order,  one  out  of 
each  regiment.  Lastly,  to  every  Boyar  a  Strelitz 
was  led  up,  whom  he  was  to  behead.  The  Czar,  in 
his  saddle,  looked  on  the  whole  tragedy. 

26th  October,  1698. —  Past  ten  o'clock,  the  Czar's 
Majesty  arrived  in  his  coach  to  a  feast  ordained 
without  regard  to  expense. —  The  banquet  was  re- 
markable for  the  sumptuous  cookery  and  the  costly 

7  That  this  was  probably  Prince  Galizin,  seems  from  the 
entry  in  the  Diary  under  October  27th,  1G98;  though  there  is 
here  a  slight  discrepancy  as  to  the  precise  day  on  which  the 
magnates  performed  as  "  executeurs  des  hautes  ocuvres "  in 
this  terrific  tragedy. —  Transl. 


68   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

and  precious  wines  which  the  well-stored  cellar 
brought  forth:  for  there  was  Tokay,  red  Buda,  dry 
Spanish,  Rhenish,  red  French,  another  as  well  as 
that  they  call  Muscatel,  a  great  variety  of  hydromel, 
and  beer  of  various  descriptions,  and  that  comple- 
ment which  is  not  the  least  prized  by  the  Muscovites 
—  brandy  (vinum  adustum). 

Boyar  Golowin  ^  has,  from  his  cradle,  a  natural 
horror  of  salad  and  vinegar;  so  the  Czar  directing 
Colonel  Chambers  to  hold  him  tight,  forced  salad 
and  vinegar  into  his  mouth  and  nostrils,  until  the 
blood  flowing  from  his  nose  succeeded  his  violent 
coughing.  Shortly  after  a  kind  of  cold  derange- 
ment of  the  stomach  seized  the  Czar,  and  a  sudden 
spasm  running  through  his  limbs,  struck  him  with 
great  terror  that  something  was  wrong.  General 
Lefort,  anxious,  like  everybody  else,  for  the  Sov- 
ereign's health,  directed  Doctor  Carbonari  de  Bis- 
enegg  to  find  a  vein,  who  saying  that  his  faint  chill 
would  speedily  pass,  asked  for  the  most  generous 
Tokay  wine  that  was  to  be  had.  Most  pleasing  to 
the  Czar  was  this  quickwitted  remedy,  nor  did  he 
long  delay  to  take  such  wholesome  physic.  He  in- 
quired of  the  doctor  why  he  meant  to  sell  his  wife: 
and  the  physician,  with  a  quiet  laugh,  answered 
boldly,  "  Because  you  delay  paying  my  yearly 
salary."  It  happens  that  Carbonari  had  some  days 
before,  after  explaining  his  wants  to  Prince  Roma- 

8  See  Appendix. 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  STRELITZ     69 

donowski,  solicited  his  salary;  and  the  Prince  an- 
swering that  he  was  ready  to  lend  money  at  interest, 
he  replied,  without  hesitating,  that  except  his  wife 
he  had  no  other  pledge  to  offer;  but  if  the  Prince 
was  resolved  to  lend  money,  that  he  was  ready  either 
to  pawn  or  sell  her.  In  other  respects  his  Majesty 
all  through,  with  a  perfectly  open  countenance,  gave 
evidence  of  his  internal  gayety. 

Seventh  Execution. — '27th  October,  1698. — 
To-day  was  assigned  for  the  punishment  of  the  popes 
—  that  is  to  say,  of  those  who  by  carrying  images 
to  induce  the  serfs  to  side  with  the  Strelitz,  had 
invoked  the  aid  of  God  with  the  holy  rites  of  his 
altars  for  the  happy  success  of  this  impious  plot. 
The  place  selected  by  the  judge  for  the  execution 
was  the  open  space  in  front  of  the  church  of  the  most 
Holy  Trinity,  which  is  the  high  church  of  Moscow. 
The  ignominous  gibbet  cross  awaited  the  popes,  by 
way  of  reward  in  suit  with  the  thousands  of  signs  of 
the  cross  they  had  made,  and  as  their  fee  for  all  the 
benedictions  they  had  given  to  the  refractory  troops. 
The  court  jester,  in  the  mimic  attire  of  a  pope,  made 
the  halter  ready,  and  adjusted  it,  as  it  was  held  to 
be  wrong  to  subject  a  pope  to  the  hands  of  the 
common  hangman.  A  certain  Dumnoi  struck  off 
the  head  of  another  pope,  and  set  his  corpse  upon 
the  ignominious  wheel.  Close  to  the  church,  too,  the 
halter  and  wheel  proclaimed  the  enormity  of  the 
crime  of  their  guilty  burden  to  the  passers  by. 


70   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

The  Czar's  Majesty  looked  on  from  his  carriage 
while  the  popes  were  hurried  to  execution.  To  the 
populace,  who  stood  around  in  great  numbers,  he 
spoke  a  few  words  touching  the  perfidy  of  the  popes, 
adding  the  threat,  "  Henceforward  let  no  one  dare 
to  ask  any  pope  to  pray  for  such  an  intention.'*  A 
little  while  before  the  execution  of  the  popes,  two 
rebels,  brothers,  having  had  their  thighs  and  other 
members  broken  in  front  of  the  Castle  of  the 
Kremlin,  were  set  alive  upon  the  wheel :  twenty  others 
on  whom  the  ax  had  done  its  office  lay  lifeless  around 
these  wheels.  The  two  that  were  bound  upon  the 
wheel  beheld  their  third  brother  among  the  dead. 
Nobody  will  easily  believe  how  lamentable  were  their 
cries  and  howls,  unless  he  has  well  weighed  their  ex- 
cruciations and  the  greatness  of  their  tortures.  I 
saw  their  broken  thighs  tied  to  the  wheel  with  ropes 
strained  as  tightly  as  possible,  so  that  in  all  that 
deluge  of  torture  I  do  believe  none  can  have  exceeded 
that  of  the  utter  impossibility  of  the  least  movement. 
Their  miserable  cries  had  struck  the  Czar  as  he  was 
being  driven  past.  He  went  up  to  the  wheels,  and 
first  promised  speedy  death,  and  afterwards  prof- 
fered them  a  free  pardon,  if  they  would  confess  sin- 
cerely. But  when  upon  the  very  wheel  he  found 
them  more  obstinate  than  ever,  and  that  they 
would  give  no  other  answer  than  that  they  would 
confess  nothing,  and  that  their  penalty  was  nearly 
paid  in  full,  the  Czar  left  them  to  the  agonies   of 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  STRELITZ      71 

death,  and  hastened  on  to  the  Monastery  of  the 
Nuns,  in  front  of  which  monastery  there  were  thirty 
gibbets  erected  in  a  quadrangular  shape,  from  which 
were  hung  two  hundred  and  thirty  Strelitz.  The 
three  principal  ringleaders,  who  presented  a  petition 
to  Sophia,  touching  the  administration  of  the  realm, 
were  hanged  close  to  the  windows  of  that  princess, 
presenting,  as  it  were,  the  petitions  that  were  placed 
in  their  hands,  so  near  that  Sophia  might  with  ease 
touch  them.  Perhaps  this  was  in  order  to  load 
Sophia  with  that  remorse  in  every  way,  which  I  be- 
lieve drove  her  to  take  the  religious  habit,  in  order 
to  pass  to  a  better  life. 

27th  October,  1698. —  The  two  bedchamberwomen, 
above  named,  are  buried  alive,  if  we  are  to  believe 
what  rumor  has  bruited  abroad.  All  the  Boyars 
and  magnates  that  were  present  at  the  Council  by 
which  the  fate  of  the  rebel  Strelitz  was  decreed,  this 
day  were  summoned  to  a  new  tribunal.  A  criminal 
was  set  before  each,  and  each  had  to  carry  out  with 
the  ax  the  sentence  which  had  passed.  Prince 
Romadonowski,  who  was  chief  of  four  regiments  of 
Strelitz  before  their  revolt,  laid  four  Strelitz  low 
with  the  same  weapon. —  His  M'ajesty  urging  him  to 
it.  The  more  cruel  Alexasca  went  boasting  of 
twenty  heads  that  he  had  chopped  ofF.  Galizin  was 
unhappy  at  having  greatly  increased  the  criminal's 
sufferings  by  striking  ill.  Three  hundred  and  thirty 
that  were  all  led  out  together  to  the  ax's  fatal  stroke 


72   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

impurpled  the  plain  far  and  wide  with  civil  — 'tis 
true  —  but  impious  blood.  General  Lef  ort  and 
Baron  de  Blumberg  were  invited  also  to  this  hang- 
man's office,  but  were  excused  on  alleging  that  it  was 
foreign  from  the  manners  of  the  countries  thej^  came 
from.  The  Czar  himself,  sitting  in  his  saddle,  looked 
on  with  dry  eyes  at  the  whole  tragedy  —  at  this 
frightful  butchery  of  such  a  multitude  of  men  — 
being  only  irate  that  several  of  the  Boyars  had  per- 
formed this  unaccustomed  function  with  trembling 
hands  —  for  that  no  fatter  victim  could  he  immolated 
to  God  than  a  wtched  man. 

Last  Execution. —  31st  October,  1698. —  Again, 
in  front  of  the  Kremlin  Castle  two  others,  whose 
thighs  and  extremities  had  been  broken,  and  who 
were  tied  to  the  wheel,  with  horrid  lamentations 
throughout  the  afternoon  and  the  following  night, 
closed  their  miserable  existence  in  the  utmost  agony. 
One  of  them,  the  younger  of  the  two,  survived  amidst 
his  enduring  tortures  until  noon  the  following  day. 
The  Czar  dined  at  his  ease  with  the  Boyar  Leo 
Kirilowicz  Nareskin,  all  the  representatives  and  the 
Czar's  ministers  being  present.  The  successive  and 
earnest  supplications  of  all  present  induced  the  mon- 
arch, who  was  long  reluctant,  to  give  command  to 
that  Gabriel  ^  who  is  so  well  known  at  his  court  that 
an  end  might  be  put  with  a  ball  to  the  life  and  pangs 
of  the  criminal  that  still  continued  breathing. 
» Gabriel  Ivanowicz  Golovkin.     See  Appendix. 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  STRELITZ      73 

For  the  remainder  of  the  rebels,  who  were  still 
guarded  in  places  round  about,  their  respective 
places  of  confinement  were  also  their  places  of  execu- 
tion, lest  by  collecting  them  all  together  this  tor- 
turing and  butchery  in  the  one  place  of  such  a  multi- 
tude might  smell  tyranny.  And  especially  lest  the 
minds  of  the  citizens,  already  terror-stricken  at  so 
many  melancholy  exhibitions  of  their  perishing  fel- 
low men  should  dread  every  kind  of  cruelty  from 
their  sovereign. 

But  considering  the  daily  perils  to  which  the 
Czar's  Majesty  was  hitherto  exposed,  without  an 
hour's  security,  and  hardly  escaping  from  many 
snares,  he  was  very  naturally  always  in  great  ap- 
prehension of  the  exceeding  treachery  of  the  Strelitz, 
so  that  he  fairly  concluded  not  to  tolerate  a  single 
Strelitz  in  his  empire, —  to  banish  all  of  them  that 
remained  to  the  farthest  confines  of  Muscovy  after 
having  almost  extirpated  the  very  name.  In  the 
provinces,  leave  was  given  to  any  that  preferred  to 
renounce  military  service  forever,  and  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  Woivodes  to  addict  themselves  to  domes- 
tic services.  Nor  were  they  quite  innocent :  for  the 
officers  that  were  quartered  in  the  camp  of  Azow  to 
keep  ward  against  the  hostile  inroads  of  the  enemy, 
told  how  they  were  never  secure,  and  hourly  ex- 
pected an  atrocious  outbreak  of  treason  from  the 
Strelitz ;  nor  was  there  any  doubt  but  that  they  had 
very  ambiguous  sympathies  for  the  fortunes  of  the 


74   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

other  rebels.  All  the  wives  of  the  Strelitz  were  com- 
manded to  leave  the  neighborhood  of  Moscow,  and 
thus  experienced  the  consequences  of  the  crimes  of 
their  husbands.  It  was  forbidden  by  Ukase,  under 
penalty  of  death,  for  any  person  to  keep  any  of  them 
or  afford  them  secret  harbor,  unless  they  would  send 
them  out  of  Moscow  to  serve  upon  their  estates. 


VII 

LIFE  AT  THE  CZAR'S  COURT 

His  Majesty  the  Czar. —  Those  brilliant  gifts 
of  nature  and  soul  which  have  spread  his  fame 
throughout  almost  every  realm  of  earth,  pointed 
him  out  from  his  infancy  for  kingly  power  and  sov- 
ereign sway.  A  well  set  stature,  well  proportioned 
limbs,  the  vivacity  of  his  3"outh,  and  an  address  be- 
yond his  years,  so  conciliated  the  affections  and  good 
will  of  his  subjects,  on  account  of  their  expectations 
of  his  natural  qualifications,  that  he  was  openly 
preferred  by  the  contending  suffrage  of  numbers  of 
people  to  his  brother  Ivan  Alexiowicz,  who  was  called 
to  the  throne  of  his  progenitors  by  that  preeminence 
of  primogeniture  which  is  held  sacred  by  the  nations. 
Ever  self-reliant,  he  contem-ns  death  and  danger,  the 
apprehension  of  which  terrifies  others.  Often  has 
he  gone  quite  alone  to  traitors  and  conspirators 
against  his  life,  and  either  fram  their  reflection  on 
the  greatness  of  their  crime,  or  dread  and  remorse 
for  their  divulged  treason  al'one  he  has  made  them 
quail  by  his  Majestic  presence;  and,  lest  this  creep- 
ing and  dangerous  pest   should  spread,  he  has  de- 


76   COURT  or  PETER  THE  GREAT 

llvered  them  up  to  chains  and  prison.  In  1694  he 
sailed  out  of  the  port  of  Archangel,  into  the  North 
Sea  beyond  Cola.  A  storm  arose  and  drove  the 
ships  upon  the  most  perilous  rocks.  The  seamen 
were  already  crying  out  in  despair;  the  Boyars,  who 
had  accompanied  their  sovereign,  had  betaken  tliem- 
selves  to  their  prayers  and  their  devotion  of  making 
thousands  of  crossings  —  no  doubt  in  terror  at  the 
contemplation  of  such  an  awful  shipwreck.  Alone, 
amidst  the  fury  of  the  wild  sea,  the  fearless  Czar 
took  the  helm  with  a  most  cheerful  countenance,  re- 
stored courage  to  their  despairing  souls,  and  until 
the  sea  subsided,  found  an  asylum  for  life  and  limb 
on  that  very  rock  upon  which,  in  rough  weather, 
many  vessels  had  been  a  prey  to  the  foaming  brine. 
A  fcAV  years  ago,  before  liis  two  year's  tour,  he 
told  his  magnates,  at  Szerdraetows,  at  whose  house 
he  was  dining,  to  what  'Saint,  under  God's  prov- 
idence, he  ascribed  his  happy  escape  from  that 
tempest.  "  When,"  said  he,  "  I  was  sailing  to 
Slowiczi  Monastir  from  Archangel,  with  several  of 
you,  I  was,  as  you  know,  in  danger  of  shipwreck. 
How  great  was  the  h-orror  of  death  and  the  dread  of 
what  seemed  certain  destruction  that  beset  your 
minds,  I  forbear  to  record.  Now  we  have  escaped 
that  danger,  we  have  got  through  our  -peril,  but  I 
hope  you  will  think  with  me,  that  it  is  but  right  to 
do  what  I  swore  to  do,  and  fulfill  the  vow  I  made  to 
heaven.     I  then  proffered  a  vow  to  God  and  to  my 


LIFE  AT  THE  CZAR'S  COURT         77 

holy  patron,  the  Apostle  Peter,  that  I  would  go  to 
Rome  to  pray  at  his  tomb,  less  out  of  my  anxiety 
for  my  own  safety  than  for  all  yours.  Tell  me, 
Boris  Petrowicz,"  thus  he  addressed  Szeremetow, 
"  what  are  the  country  and  the  towns  like?  As  you 
have  been  in  those  parts  you  must  be  able  to  tell  all 
about  them."  Szeremetow  praised  the  amenity  and 
beauty  of  the  country,  and  the  Czar  subjoined: 
"  Some  of  you  shall  come  with  me  when  I  am  going 
there;  when  the  Turk  has  been  humbled,  I  will  ac- 
quit myself  of  my  vow." 

His  late  most  serene  mother  tried  to  discourage 
him  from  this  project,  and  through  her  the  Rus- 
sians suggested  many  figments  against  the  Apostolic 
see.  His  answer  to  her  was :  "  If  you  had  not  been 
my  mother  I  could  hardly  restrain  myself.  My  ven- 
eration for  that  name  pleads  your  excuse  for  what 
you  have  dared  to  speak.  B,ut  know  that  death  is 
the  penalty  that  awaits  whosoever  henceforward 
shall  presume  to  blame  my  intention  or  resist  it." 
And  to  Rome  assuredly  he  would  have  gone  in  per- 
formance of  his  vow,  had  not  such  pressing  dangers 
summoned  him  back  to  Moscow,  on  the  breaking  out 
of  a  revolt  in  his  realm. 

With  what  spirit,  too,  he  labored  to  introduce  into 
Muscovy  those  polite  arts  that  had  for  ages  been 
proscibed  there,  may  be  easily  gathered  from  his 
having  sent  into  various  -countries  of  Europe, —  into 
Germany,  Italy,  England,  and  Holland, —  the  most 


78   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

talented  children  of  his  principal  subjects,  in  order 
that  they  might  learn  —  by  intercourse,  the  wisdom 
and  arts  o.f  the  most  polished  nations,  and  on  their 
return  be  ornaments  of  Muscovy,  and  in  their  turn 
excite  their  juniors  to  like  deserts.  He  made  known 
his  reasons  for  this  plan,  some  years  ago,  to  his 
Boyars,  explaining  its  utility  to  them.  They  all 
commended  the  monarch's  prudence,  but  insinuated 
that  such  immense  good,  however  desirable  it  might 
be,  was  unattainable.  That  the  genius  of  the  Mus- 
covites was  unsuited  to  such  pursuits ;  that  the  money 
expended  on  it  would  be  wasted  in  vain ;  and  that  he 
would  fatigue  himself  and  his  subjects  with  profitless 
labor.  The  Czar  was  indignant  at  these  sayings, 
which  were  only  worthy  of  the  profound  ignorance 
of  those  that  gave  utterance  to  them. 

For  they  liked  their  benighted  darkness,  and  noth- 
ing but  shame  at  their  own  deformity  was  capable 
of  drawing  them  into  the  light.  "  Are  we  then  born 
less  blest  than  other  nations,"  the  Czar  continued, 
"  that  the  divinity  should  have  infused  inept  minds 
into  our  bodies?  Have  we  not  hands?  Have  we 
not  eyes?  Have  we  not  the  same  habit  of  body  that 
suffices  foreign  nations  for  their  internal  culture? 
Why  have  we  alone  degenerate  and  rude  souls? 
Why  should  we  alone  be  left  out  as  unworthy  of  the 
glory  of  human  science?  By  Hercules!  We  have 
the  same  minds ;  we  can  do  like  other  folk  if  we  only 
will   it.     For  nature  has   given  to   all  mankind  the 


LIFE  AT  THE  CZAR'S  COURT  79 

same  groundwork  and  seed  of  virtues ;  we  are  born 
to  all  those  things ;  when  the  stimulus  is  applied,  all 
those  properties  of  the  soul  that  have  been,  as  it 
were,  sleeping,  shall  be  awakened." 

The  greatest  things  may  be  expected  from  such  a 
Prince.  Let  the  Muscovites  congratulate  themselves 
on  the  treasure  they  possess  in  him,  for  they  are  now 
really  fortunate.  He  chose  his  wife  in  the  family  of 
Lubochin,  and  she  bore  him  a  son  named  Alexis 
Petrowicz,^  a  youth  splendidly  gifted  and  adorned 
with  ingenuous  virtues,  on  whom  rest  the  hopes  of 
his  father,  and  the  fortunes  and  tranquillity  of  Mus- 
covy. 

Espousals  of  the  Czar. —  Different  times  call 
for  different  manners.  It  may,  indeed,  formerly 
have  been  the  practice  in  Russia  to  assemble  all 
the  maidens  of  Muscovy  that  were  of  comely  form 
and  remarkable  beauty  when  the  Czar  was  thinking 
of  marrying,  in  order  that  he  might  select  Avhichever 
pleased  him  best.  But  the  custom  is  become  ob- 
solete ;  and  the  marriages  of  the  Czars  have  of  late 
been  mostly  decided  by  the  advice  of  those  who  by 
official  rank  or  favor  were  raised  to  the  honor  of 
standing  beside  the  throne.  Polygamy,  too,  has 
fallen  into  desuetude,  and  they  hold  it  to  be  sinful 
to  share  the  nuptial  bed  with  a  number  of  select  con- 
cubines. But  should  the  Czarina  be  sterile,  the 
Czar  may  shut  her   up  in  a  monastery,  and  is  at 

1  See  Appendix. 


80   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

liberty  to  look  out  for  a  more  fruitful  union.  Be- 
sides sterility  there  are  other  causes  of  repudiation. 
We  must  believe  that  other  sovereigns  do  nothing 
rashly,  though  we,  as  it  often  happens,  cannot  ac- 
count for  their  motives.  Thus,  the  wife  of  the  pres- 
ent Czar,  who,  as  she  bore  him  a  prince,  could  by 
no  means  be  said  to  be  sterile,  has  nevertheless  been 
repudiated  —  a  divorce  which,  no  doubt,  is  grounded 
upon  most  grave  causes,  the  weight  of  which  we  may 
jjerhaps  conjecture  from  the  fact  that  when  the  Czar 
was  lying  outside  of  Azow  he  refused  to  return  until 
he  should  be  certain  that  his  wife's  head  had  been 
shaved,  and  that  she  had  been  shut  up  in  a  monastery 
called  Sustalski,  about  thirty  miles  distant  from 
Moscow. 

To  seek  for  a  wife  among  foreign  princes  has,  up 
to  this,  been  a  perilous  experiment  for  a  Czar,  the 
Boyars  and  leading  people  holding  out  vain  appre- 
hensions that  by  the  foreign  marriages  foreign  and 
new-fangled  manners  would  be  most  perniciously  sub- 
stituted in  their  country,  that  ancient  usages  would 
become  corrupted,  the  purity  of  the  religion  of  their 
fathers  be  imperilled,  and,  in  short,  all  Muscovy  be 
exposed  to  the  utmost  danger.  And  the  only  reason 
they  allege  for  the  poisoning  of  Czar  Feodor  Alex- 
iowicz  is  that  he  had  chosen  a  wife  out  of  the  Polish 
family  of  Lupropin.  At  length  some  hope  is  dawn- 
ing that  a  gentler  spirit  is  beginning  to  breathe  over 
Muscovy,   in   order   to   the   perfect   development   of 


LIFE  AT  THE  CZAR'S  COURT  81 

which  the  Czar  has  taken  some  new  measures  of  ex- 
ceeding wisdom,  for  the  purpose  of  civilizing  his  sub- 
jects by  more  frequent  intercourse  with  foreign  na- 
tions ;  and  they  may  thus  come  to  like  what  they 
have  hitherto  persecuted  with  so  much  disgust! 
They  are  beginning  to  desire  marriages  with  foreign 
nations,  now  that  they  learn  that  there  are  no  holier 
bonds  to  conciliate  friendship  between  nations,  and 
to  settle  wars  —  nay,  how  often  they  give  laws  to 
the  victors.  Many  believe  that  the  Czar  divorced 
the  wife  whom  he  has  shut  up  in  a  convent  with  the 
design  of  marrying  a  foreigner. 

The  Czar's  Court. —  The  former  Grand  Dukes 
made  use  of  inestimable  parade  in  their  apparel  and 
adornment,  the  majesty  of  the  Pontiff  being  super- 
added to  that  of  the  King.  On  the  head  they  wore 
a  miter,  glittering  with  pearls  and  priceless  gems ; 
in  the  right  hand  they  bore  an  exceedingly  rich  pas- 
toral staff;  their  fingers  were  covered  with  rings  of 
gold;  and  above  the  throne  on  which  they  sat,  there 
was  fixed  to  the  right  an  image  of  Christ,  and  to  the 
left  one  of  the  most  Holy  Virgin  Mother.  The  pres- 
ence and  ante-chambers  were  thronged  with  men  clad 
in  golden  vesture  and  other  precious  insignia  to  the 
very  feet. 

But  the  present  Czar,  a  great  contemner  of  all 
pomp  and  ostentation  about  his  own  person,  rarely 
makes  use  of  that  superfluous  multitude  of  attend- 
ants.    Nor  do  the  Boyars  or  nobles  about  the  Court 


82   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

use  the  proud  old  garb,  having  learnt  by  the  example 
of  the  Grand  Duke  that  luxury  in  dress  is  an  empty 
thing,  and  that  living  in  fine  houses  does  not  con- 
stitute wisdom.  The  Czar  himself,  when  going 
through  his  capital,  is  often  accompanied  by  two, 
and  at  most  three  or  four,  of  his  more  intimate  at- 
tendants ;  feeling  even  in  the  perilous  time  of  the 
military  revolt,  a  confidence  in  the  simple  respect  of 
his  subjects  for  majesty.  For  in  former  times  the 
Muscovites  obeyed  their  sovereign  less  like  subjects 
than  bought  slaves,  looking  upon  him  more  in  the 
light  of  a  god  than  a  sovereign ;  so  that  one  often 
used  to  hear  among  the  Muscovites  (what  the  vulgar 
still  continually  say)  "  God  only  and  the  Grand 
Duke  know  that:  everythmg  that  we  have  of  health 
and  comfort  proceeds  from  the  Grand  Duke"  This 
reverence  of  his  people  recalled  Ivan  Basilowicz  to 
the  throne  of  his  forefathers,  when,  after  unheard-of 
atrocities,  he  had,  out  of  fear  of  just  vengeance,  be- 
taken himself  to  the  retirement  of  a  monastery ; 
whether  it  would  be  that  respect  for  the  royal  name, 
which  those  who  live  under  monarchy  revere  as  some- 
thing sacred,  or  innate  veneration  for  their  sovereign, 
or  their  trust  in  one  who  had  held  the  reigns  of  gov- 
ernment already,  drove  these  men,  born  for  subjec- 
tion, into  loyal  obedience. 

Sedition  was  almost  utterly  unknown  in  Muscovy 
of  old ;  now  you  would  think  the  rebelHons  must  be 
chained    one    to    another.     Hydra's    head    did    not 


LIFE  AT  THE  CZAR'S  COURT  83 

sprout  faster  than  fresh  rebelhons  spring  out  of  the 
very  graves  of  traitors.  Hercules  thoroughly  sub- 
dued Hydra  by  fire ;  but  the  restless  audacity  of  the 
Muscovites  feeds  upon  flames  like  a  Salamander.  Is 
it  the  iron  age  that  has  banished  olden  fidelity  and 
affection,  and  reverence  for  their  sovereign,  even 
from  among  the  dregs  of  the  populace?  Yet  the 
custom  still  exists  of  prostrating  themselves  on  the 
ground  in  worship  of  the  Czar,  as  if  his  place  were 
nearly  as  exalted  in  power  as  God's.  As  for  the 
rest,  a  throng  of  nobles-Sin-Boyaren,  as  they  call 
them  (that  is,  sons  of  Boyars), —  perform  the  daily 
ministrations.  But  there  is  nothing  seemly  in  the 
service,  no  cleanliness  among  the  servers ;  so  that  the 
mere  rudeness  of  their  unpolished  manners  and  their 
filthy  service  would  suffice  to  distinguish  this  from 
every  other  court  in  Europe. 

When  the  table  is  being  laid  for  the  Czar  no  flour- 
ish of  trumpets  summons  the  courtiers  to  their  func- 
tions ;  but  one  of  them  cries  out  in  a  stentorian  voice, 
"  Gosudar  Cuschimim,  Gosudar  Cuschinum"  (that 
is,  "  The  Grand  Duke  wants  to  eat")  The  cups  in 
which  the  drink  in  presented  to  the  Czar  are  made  of 
gold  and  silver,  in  sooth,  but  so  coated  with  filth 
that  it  is  hard  to  discover  which  precious  metal  lies 
hidden  beneath  the  dirt.  There  is  no  order  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  viands  ;  they  are  thrown  higgledy- 
piggledy;  and  they  are  generally  torn  asunder,  not 
carved.     There  was  a  reverential  old  custom  which 


84   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

forbade  the  admission  of  any  person  to  the  table  of 
former  Czars.  They  used  to  dine  alone;  but  they 
were  accustomed  to  send  some  dishes  from  their  table 
to  any  of  the  Boyars  that  they  wished  to  honor  with 
an  especial  mark  of  favor.  The  present  Czar,  on 
the  other  hand,  considers  it  a  decided  affront  to 
kings  that  they  should  be  repelled  from  the  pleasures 
of  private  society,  arguing  why  should  a  barbarous 
and  inhuman  law  be  enacted  against  kings  alone,  to 
prevent  them  enjoying  the  society  of  anybody?  So 
that,  neglecting  the  proud  solitude  of  his  own  table, 
he  is  fond  of  conversing  and  dining  with  his  advisers, 
with  the  German  officers,  with  merchants,  and  even 
with  the  ambassadors  of  foreign  princes.  Though 
this  be  sovereignly  displeasing  to  the  Muscovites, 
yet,  as  they  must  needs  obey,  they  had  to  adopt  the 
same  fashions,  and  often  exhibit  a  smiling  counte- 
nance upon  compulsion. 

The  Czau's  Residence. —  It  is  called  the 
Kremlin  —  is  surrounded  with  a  stone  wall  two  miles 
and  nine  hundred  paces  in  circumference,  and  com- 
prises several  very  handsome  structures  belonging 
to  the  noblesse  within  the  ambit  of  its  enclosure,  sev- 
eral bazaars,  several  churches  —  as,  for  example,  the 
Church  of  the  Archangel  Michael,  which  contains  the 
royal  tombs.  Blagavesine,  or  the  Church  of  the  An- 
nunciation, is  remarkable  for  its  nine  towers,  the 
roofs  of  which,  as  well  as  the  whole  church,  are  cov- 
ered with  gilt  copper,  and  the  highest  tower  thereof 


LIFE  AT  THE  CZAR'S  COURT  85 

is  surmounted  with  a  cross  of  pure  gold,  of  immense 
value.  Ivan  Veliskoy,  or  the  Church  of  Saint  John, 
the  tower  roof  of  which  is  gilt,  has  a  number  of  bells, 
one  of  which,  the  largest  in  the  world,  weighs  two 
thousand  two  hundred  poods,  or  sixty-six  thousand 
pounds  of  our  weight.  Within  the  same  regal  pre- 
cinct, preeminent  among  the  other  chanceries,  stands 
that  called  the  Posolki  Pricas,  or  Ambassadorial 
Chancery,  wherein  all  affairs  concerning  the  condi- 
tions of  the  state  and  negotiations  with  foreign 
princes  are  expedited.  All  strangers,  too,  are  de- 
pendent thereon.  The  chambers  and  apartments  in- 
tended for  the  monarch's  dwelling  are  ordained  with 
sumptuous  pomp  of  decorations  and  hangings,  and 
for  size  and  splendor  yield  in  nothing  to  the  chief 
palaces  in  Europe. 

In  another  part  of  the  fortress  there  is  a  stud  of 
various  breeds  of  blood  horses,  a  kind  of  little 
Sybarite  army,  as  it  were.  Horses,  to  be  prized  by 
the  Muscovites,  must  be  tall  and  showy.  They  like 
those  of  Arabia  and  Altenburgh.  Muscovy  possesses 
a  native  breed  of  horses  exceedingly  commendable 
for  their  fleetness ;  they  call  them  pachmaten.  The 
Czar's  predecessors  used  to  appoint  chases  of  dif- 
ferent kinds  in  the  various  districts  of  their  domin- 
ions, the  monarch  reserving  hawking  for  his  own 
pleasure.  The  reigning  sovereign,  on  the  contrary, 
is  attracted  by  other  matters  —  the  art  of  war,  fire- 
works, the  roar  of  artillery,  shipbuilding,  the  dangers 


86   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

of  the  sea,  and  sets  the  arduous  pursuit  of  glory 
above  all  pleasures  and  amusements.  He  went 
through  the  military  functions  from  the  very  lowest 
rank,  and  would  not  ascend  the  throne  of  his  an- 
cestors, and  mount  the  pinnacle  of  sovereign  power, 
before  he  had  passed  through  all  the  grades  of  mil- 
itary rank  to  the  highest,  that  of  General-in-Chief 
(Campicucis),  so  glorious  does  he  esteem  it  to  have 
merited  dignity  before  possessing  it. 

Of  Female  Luxury. —  The  women  of  Muscovy 
are  graceful  in  figure,  and  fair  and  comely  of  fea- 
ture: but  spoil  their  beauty  with  needless  shams. 
Their  shapes,  unimprisoned  by  stays,  are  free  to 
grow  as  nature  bids,  and  are  not  so  neat  and  trim  of 
figure  as  those  of  other  Europeans.  They  wear 
chemises  interwoven  with  gold  all  through,  the 
sleeves  of  which  are  plaited  up  in  a  marvelous  way, 
being  eight  and  sometimes  ten  ells  in  length,  and  their 
pretty  concatenation  of  little  plaits  extends  down 
to  the  hands,  and  is  confined  with  handsome  and 
costly  bracelets.  Their  outer  garments  resemble 
those  of  Eastern  women :  they  wear  a  cloak  over  their 
tunic.  They  often  dress  in  handsome  silks  and  furs, 
and  earrings  and  rings  are  in  general  fashion  among 
them. 

Matrons  and  widows  cover  the  head  with  furs  of 
price;  maidens  only  wear  a  rich  band  round  their 
forehead  and  go  bareheaded,  with  their  locks  floating 


LIFE  AT  THE  CZAR'S  COURT  87 

upon  their  shoulders,  and  arranged  with  great  ele- 
gance in  artificial  knots. 

Those  of  any  dignity  or  honorable  condition  are 
not  urged  to  be  present  at  banquets,  nor  do  they  even 
sit  at  the  ordinary  table  of  their  husbands.  They 
may  be  seen,  nevertheless,  at  present  when  they  go 
to  church  or  drive  out  to  visit  their  friends ;  for 
there  has  been  a  great  relaxation  of  the  jealous  old 
rule  which  required  women  only  to  go  out  in  car- 
riages so  closed  up,  that  the  very  use  of  the  eye- 
sight was  denied  to  these  creatures  made  bond  slaves 
to  a  master.  Moreover  they  hold  it  among  the 
greatest  honors  that  can  be  paid  if  a  husband  admits 
his  guest  to  see  his  wife  or  daughters,  who  present  a 
glass  of  brandy,  and  expect  a  kiss  from  the  favored 
guest ;  and  according  to  the  manner  of  this  people, 
duly  propitiated  with  this,  they  withdraw  in  silence, 
as  they  came.  They  exercise  no  authority  in  their 
households.  When  the  master  is  absent  from  house, 
the  servants  have  full  charge  of  the  management  of 
the  affairs  of  the  house,  according  to  their  honesty 
or  caprice,  without  asking  or  acquainting  the  wife 
about  anything.  But  the  more  wealthy  maintain 
great  crowds  of  handmaidens,  who  do  scarcely  any 
work,  except  what  trifling  things  the  wife  may  re- 
quire of  them;  meantime,  they  are  kept  shut  up  in 
the  house,  and  spin  and  weave  linen.  With  such  a 
lazy  life  one  cannot  blame  the  custom  which  con- 


88   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

dcmned  the  poor  creatures  to  such  frequent  use  of 
the  bath,  so  that  their  idleness  may  be  at  least  varied 
from  time  to  time  with  another  description  of  sloth. 

Whenever  the  wife  of  a  man  of  the  higher  classes 
is  delivered  of  a  child,  they  signify  it  without  delay 
to  the  employees  and  tradesmen,  with  rather  a  beg- 
garly kind  of  civility.  Those  who  dread  the  hus- 
band's power,  or  are  ambitious  of  his  patronage,  on 
receiving  notice  of  the  new  birth,  come  to  offer  their 
congratulations  in  return;  and  giving  a  kiss  to  the 
mother,  they  present  some  offering  as  a  token  for 
the  new-born  babe.  They  had  better  beware  not  to 
give  less  than  a  gold  piece,  for  that  would  be  a  kind 
of  vili-pending;  but  everybody  is  free  to  be  more 
generous  in  his  gift.  He  that  is  found  to  be  the 
most  liberal  will  be  deemed  the  best  friend.  What 
the  poet  sang  of  the  populace,  I  apply  with  greater 
justice  to  the  Muscovites  —  the  Muscovite  tests 
friendship  by  its  utility.  It  is  a  fable  that  they 
value  the  affection  of  their  husbands  for  them  by  the 
amount  of  blows  they  receive  from  them ;  for  they 
know  how  to  distinguish  between  ferocious  and  gentle 
characters  better  than  words  can  tell.  If  any  person 
of  weight  were  to  make  a  beginning  of  abandoning 
the  old  usage,  they  would  certainly  struggle  from 
beneath  that  most  vile  bondage  in  which  they  are 
held  towards  their  husbands. 

The  Muscovites  hold  it  sinful  to  marry  a  fourth 
wife;  in  consequence  of  which  the  third  is  in  general 


LIFE  AT  THE  CZAR'S  COURT  89 

treated  famously,  although  her  two  predecessors  are 
treated  like  bond-slaves ;  for  the  thoughts  of  a  new 
wife,  and  their  inordinate  desires  induce  them  to 
wish  for  their  speedy  death,  and  render  the  charms 
of  the  first  loathsome,  perhaps  even  within  the  brief 
space  of  a  year.  It  is  quite  a  proverb,  that  a  pope 
may  have  one  and  a  layman  a  third  wife.  Because 
when  they  die  it  is  unlawful  for  them  to  marry  again, 
and  the  Muscovites  treat  these  with  true  marital 
affection,  as  they  never  can  expect  to  marry  again 
when  these  die.  Nevertheless,  some  of  the  more 
powerful  extort  a  dispensation  from  the  Patriarch 
to  marry  a  fourth  time ;  and  the  Patriarch,  even 
though  he  does  not  refuse  it,  still  blames  them  as 
sacrilegious  nuptials,  that  are  null  in  virtue  of  the 
immutable  authority  of  the  prohibitive  law. 

The  Don  Cossacks  have  another  custom.  They 
may  repudiate  women  ad  libitum,  provided  it  be  in 
the  circle  of  the  whole  community,  which  assembly 
they  call  a  Krug.  In  presence  of  the  Hetmann  and 
the  entire  community  the  man  leads  his  wife  into  the 
middle  of  the  circle,  and  proclaims  that  she  pleases 
him  no  longer;  this  said,  he  twirls  his  wife  round 
about,  and  letting  her  go,  pronounces  her  free  from 
his  marital  authority.  The  bystander  who  takes 
hold  of  the  discarded  woman  is  compelled  to  keep  her 
as  a  wife,  and  protect  and  maintain  her  until  the 
next  assembly  day.  Still  the  laws  of  these  barbar- 
ians have  established  rules  for  repudiation;  so  that 


90   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

they  are  not  valid,  except  in  circle  and  with  the  whole 
community  as  witnesses. 

Of  Marriages. —  The  fashion  of  their  marriage 
differs  in  a  slight  degree  from  the  mode  which  a  long 
series  of  ages  has  sanctioned  in  other  countries. 
For  among  them  the  men  are  not  accustomed  to  see 
or  speak  to  the  girl  they  want  to  marry;  the  ques- 
tion is  popped  through  the  mother,  or  some  other 
old  woman,  when  the  parents,  without  whose  consent 
they  consider  marriage  to  be  illicit,  have  agreed 
about  the  dowry,  which  is  sometimes  proportioned 
to  the  wealth  of  the  old  people.  For  it  is  not  moral 
among  them  for  the  husband  to  promise  anything, 
nor  have  they  any  word  to  express  a  donation  on 
account  of  marriage.  But  if  the  husband  die  with- 
out issue  of  the  marriage,  the  widow  receives  as  much 
as  she  brought,  provided  the  husband  has  left  prop- 
erty to  that  amount.  If,  however,  she  has  had  chil- 
dren by  him,  she  takes  the  third  part  of  the  goods, 
or  more  according  to  her  husband's  will.  Finally, 
they  draw  up  marriage  articles,  in  which  the  girl's 
parents  warrant  her  undefiled;  whence  many  law- 
suits arise,  if  the  husband  should  have  the  least  sus- 
picion that  she  was  previously  seduced.  When  these 
are  completed,  the  betrothed  girl  sends  the  first  gift 
to  her  intended,  which  he  reciprocates.  Still  they 
are  neither  allowed  to  see  nor  speak  to  one  another. 

When  the  promise  of  marriage  has  been  given,  the 
father   summons   his   daughter,   who    comes    covered 


LIFE  AT  THE  CZAR'S  COURT  91 

with  a  linen  veil  into  his  presence ;  and  asking  her 
whether  she  be  still  minded  to  marry,  he  takes  up  a 
new  rod,  which  has  been  kept  ready  for  the  purpose, 
and  strikes  his  daughter  lightly  once  or  twice,  say- 
ing, "  Lo !  my  darling  daughter,  this  is  the  last  that 
shall  admonish  thee  of  thy  father's  authority,  be- 
neath whose  rule  thou  hast  lived  until  now.  Now 
thou  art  free  from  me.  Remember  that  thou  hast 
not  so  much  escaped  from  sway,  as  rather  passed  be- 
neath that  of  another.  Shouldst  thou  behave  not  as 
thou  oughtest  towards  thy  husband,  he  in  my  stead 
shall  admonish  thee  with  this  rod."  With  this  the 
father,  concluding  his  speech,  stretches  at  the  same 
time  the  whip  to  the  bridegroom,  who  excusing  him- 
self briefly  according  to  custom,  says  that  he  "  be- 
lieves he  shall  have  no  need  of  this  whip  " ;  but  he  is 
bound  to  accept  it,  and  put  it  up  under  his  belt,  like 
a  valuable  present. 

Now,  towards  the  evening  which  precedes  the 
solemn  nuptials,  the  bride  is  conducted  by  her  mother 
and  other  matrons  in  a  carriage,  or,  if  it  should  be 
winter,  in  a  sledge,  with  her  marriage  trousseau  and 
a  nuptial  bed,  elegantly  appareled,  to  the  bride- 
groom's house,  and  there  she  is  guarded  over-night, 
so  that  she  may  not  be  seen  by  her  husband.  Early 
in  the  morning  of  the  day  appointed  for  the  marriage 
ceremony  the  bride,  with  a  linen  veil  which  covers 
her  from  the  head  to  below  the  middle,  is  conducted 
to   church  by   her  parents   and  friends;   the  bride- 


92   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

groom,  on  his  part,  being  accompanied  by  his 
friends ;  even  poor  men  using  horses,  though  the 
church  may  be  close  to  their  door.  The  ceremonies 
and  words  which  the  priest  makes  use  of  hardly  dif- 
fer from  those  used  among  other  Christians.  It  is 
with  a  ring  that  the  pledge  of  fidelity  is  ratified,  and 
the  hand  of  the  bride  is  put  into  the  hand  of  the 
bridegroom,  which  done,  the  bride  falls  to  the  bride- 
groom's feet  and  touches  his  shoes  with  her  forehead, 
in  token  of  subjection;  and  the  bridegroom,  in  his 
turn,  puts  his  tunic  over  her,  in  testimony  that  he 
undertakes  to  protect  her.  Then  the  kinsfolk  and 
friends  bow  to  both  bridegroom  and  bride^,  as  a 
pledge  of  mutual  willingness  to  oblige  and  of  friend- 
ship to  be  cherished.  Finally  the  bridegroom's  fa- 
ther presents  a  loaf  to  the  priest  who  forthwith  hands 
it  to  the  bride's  father,  begging  him  to  pay  the 
dowry  he  has  promised  to  the  bridegroom  on  the  day 
ajDpointed,  and  henceforward  to  maintain  inviolate 
friendship  with  him  and  his  friends.  In  like  manner, 
too,  he  breaks  the  bride's  loaf  into  many  pieces,  and 
distributes  a  bit  to  each  of  the  relatives  and  connec- 
tions present,  fco  signify  that  they  should  hencefor- 
ward be  kneaded  together  like  a  loaf. 

These  ceremonies  being  at  an  end,  the  bridegroom 
leads  the  bride  by  the  hand  to  the  church  porch,  and 
pours  out  a  cup  of  hydromel  for  her,  which  she  sips 
beneath  her  veil,  and  thus  both  return  with  their 
friends  to  the  house  of  the  parents.     There  grain  is 


LIFE  AT  THE  CZAR'S  COURT  93 

strewn  on  the  threshold  as  a  token  of  fertility  and 
plenty  and  while  the  guests  are  regaling  themselves 
the  newly  wedded  couple  proceed  to  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  marriage.  After  they  have  reposed  for 
some  two  or  three  hours  upon  the  nuptial  couch, 
some  of  the  banqueters  are  assigned  to  go  to  them 
and  inquire  of  the  bridegroom  whether  he  has  found 
the  bride  a  virgin.  If  he  answers  in  the  affirmative 
to  the  great  joy  of  the  guests,  the  bridal  couple  are 
led  amid  dancing  to  the  bath  which  has  been  adorned 
with  sweet  smelling  herbs.  Having  bathed  to  their 
pleasure,  they  are  led  back  to  the  banquet  hall  where 
they  receive  an  abundance  of  congratulation.  If 
on  the  other  hand  the  bridegroom  complains  that  the 
bride  has  already  been  seduced,  she  is  repudiated  and 
sent  back  to  her  parents.  Not  even  the  chastity  of 
our  age  could  improve  upon  this  test  for  determining 
virginity. 


VIII 

A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW 

1st  November,  1698. —  A  certain  envoy  from  the 
north  was  aware  that  the  Czar  had  slept  the  night 
before  at  the  house  of  the  Danish  Commissioner, 
Baudenan,  Thither,  therefore,  he  went,  expecting 
by  this  humble  court  to  win  greater  favor  than 
others.  Nor  was  he  wrong  in  his  reckoning,  for  the 
Czar  took  hira  to  show  him  the  great  Iwan,  the  larg- 
est bell  in  the  Avorld.  But  he  was  near  losing  in  a 
moment  whatever  share  of  favor  he  had  laboriously 
gathered.  Along  with  the  other  representatives  he 
had  come  by  invitation  with  the  Czar  to  a  banquet, 
which  was  sumptuously  prepared  by  the  Prime 
Minister,  Leo  Kirilowicz  Galizin.  He  had  sat  down 
next  the  Czar,  and  united  with  the  other  representa- 
tives, and  the  Czar's  ministers  had  implored  him  — 
and  long  he  resisted  —  to  shorten  the  long-sufferings 
of  the  criminals  that  were  set  upon  the  wheel  yester- 
day, and  who  were  still  alive,  by  sending  a  bullet 
through  them.  The  favorite,  Gabriel,  who  was 
charged  with  the  execution  of  this,  announced  at  his 
return   that  one  of  the   condemned  had  lived  some 

95 


96   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

time,  even  after  the  bullet:  whence  the  Czar  took 
occasion  to  tell  the  following  story : —  A  coachman 
in  Poland  was  so  wounded  by  the  chance  explosion 
of  a  firelock  that  he  was  carrying  in  his  hand,  that 
the  bullet,  entering  through  his  mouth,  had  gone  out 
again  at  the  occiput ;  notwithstanding  which  he  sur- 
vived nine  days.  The  envoy  above  mentioned,  aug- 
uring the  success  of  the  whole  day  from  his  early 
court,  treated  the  matter  as  something  too  porten- 
tious  and  prodigious.  But  the  Czar  asseverated  all 
the  more  strongly  in  proportion  as  he  saw  the  envoy's 
amazement  to  be  great;  and  as  the  latter  at  last 
brought  up  some  physical  reasons,  and  was  philo- 
sophizing with  perilous  ambition,  adding  that  it 
would  be  hard  to  persuade  him  of  it,  the  Czar,  wroth 
that  the  truth  of  his  word  should  be  so  pertinaciously 
impugned,  called  upon  General  Carlowitz  to  repeat 
the  whole  story  from  the  beginning.  When  Carlow- 
itz had  told  it  just  the  same,  the  Czar  thus  addressed, 
with  a  certain  indignation,  the  philosopher  that  had 
thus  publicly  cast  doubt  upon  him :  "  Dost  thou 
believe  now.-^  If  it  should  happen  still  to  be  beyond 
belief,  I  will  write  to  the  King  of  the  Poles,  that  I 
may  prove  my  veracity  to  you  by  his  testimony." 
During  dinner  there  was  question  about  the  differ- 
ences between  countries ;  the  one  that  lay  next  Mus- 
covy was  very  ill  spoken  of.  The  minister  who  comes 
thence  replied  that  for  his  part  he  had  noticed  a 
great  many  things  in  Muscovy  that  were  deserving 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  97 

of  censure.  The  Czar  retorted,  "  If  thou  wert  a 
subject  of  mine,  I  would  add  thee  as  a  companion  to 
those  of  mine  that  are  now  hanging  from  the  gibbet, 
—  for  I  well  know  what  thy  speech  alludes  to."  The 
Czar,  of  set  purpose,  sought  an  opportunity  of  set- 
ting the  same  personage  to  dance  with  his  fool,  a 
laughing-stock  for  his  court,  amidst  a  general  titter ; 
and  yet  the  personage  did  not  understand  what  a 
shameful  trick  was  being  played  upon  him,  until  the 
Imperial  Lord  Envoy,  who  had  always  a  great  deal 
of  influence  with  him,  had  quietly  given  him  warning, 
through  one  of  his  intimates,  not  to  forget  the 
dignity  of  his  office.  By  another  jesting  interpreta- 
tion he  understood  the  slaps  which  a  sacred  hand 
inflicted  as  being  a  token  of  afl^ection  t  Thus  the 
acts  of  others  sometimes  borrow  so  completely  their 
denomination  from  our  own  interpretings,  that  we 
see  frequently  the  same  acts,  according  to  the 
chances  of  time  and  natural  character,  at  one  time 
taken  for  insults,  and  at  another  for  favors. 

2nd,  November,  1698. —  His  Majesty  the  Czar 
being  about  to  start  for  Vcroncje,  ordered  a  dinner 
to  be  prepared  by  his  general,  Lefort,  and  all  the 
other  representatives,  as  well  as  the  chief  Boyars, 
to  be  invited.  The  Czar  came  later  than  usual,  hav- 
ing doubtless  been  engaged  in  some  aff'airs  of  no  light 
moment ;  even  at  table,  without  taking  notice  of  the 
presence  of  the  representatives,  he  still  continued 
discussing  some  points  with  his  Boyars ;  but  the  con- 


98   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

sultation  was  next  thing  to  an  altercation  —  neither 
words  nor  hands  being  spared,  every  one  being  ex- 
cited beyond  measure,  each  defending  his  own  opinion 
with  obstinacy,  and  with  a  warmth  perilous  beneath 
the  eye  of  Majesty.  They  differed  so  widely  that 
they  almost  abused  one  another.  Two,  whose  lowlier 
rank  excused  them  from  mingling  in  this  knotty  dis- 
cussion, sought  to  win  the  favor  due  to  a  capital 
funny  joke  by  another  description  of  clownishness, 
trying,  as  something  quite  fine,  to  hit  one  another's 
heads  with  the  bread  which  they  found  upon  the 
table ;  for  they  all,  in  their  own  way,  did  their  best  to 
give  genuine  proofs  of  their  true  origin.  Yet  even 
among  the  Muscovite  guests  some  there  were  whose 
more  modest  speech  with  their  Prince  betokened  high 
character  of  soul.  An  undisturbable  gravity  of 
manners  was  remarkable  in  the  aged  Prince  Leo 
Hugowicz  Tzerkaski;  ripe  prudence  of  counsel  char- 
acterized Boyar  Golowin ;  an  apt  knowledge  of  public 
affairs  was  distinguishable  in  Artemonowicz ; — men 
who  shone  all  the  more,  as  their  species  was  evidently 
very  rare.  The  last  that  I  have  named,  indignant 
that  so  many,  and  such  a  variety  of  madmen,  should 
be  admitted  to  a  royal  banquet,  addressing  the 
Dumnoi  of  the  Siberian  Pricassa  in  Latin  (which  he 
knows  weU),  exclaimed  aloud:  "  Stultorum  plena 
sunt  omnia,"  (i.  e.,  "  the  whole  place  is  full  of 
fools,")  so  that  his  Avords  might  easily  reach  the 
ears  of  all  that  knew  Latin. 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  99 

Dancing  followed  immediately  after  the  table  was 
removed ;  and  now  took  place  the  dismissal  of  the 
Envoy  of  the  Poles.  The  Czar  broke  hastily  away, 
quite  unexpectedly,  from  the  gay  crowd,  into  a  place 
next  the  dining-room,  where  the  glasses  and  drinking 
cups  and  various  kinds  of  drinkables  were  kept,  com- 
manding the  Envoy  of  Poland  to  follow  him. 
Thither  crowded  after  him  the  w^hole  body  of  the 
guests  eager  to  know  what  was  the  case.  Impeded 
by  their  own  haste,  they  had  not  all  got  into  the 
room,  when  the  letters  recredential  had  been  already 
handed  to  the  Polish  Envoy  and  the  Czar  coming 
out  again,  put  to  the  blush  those  that  were  still  try- 
ing and  pushing  to  get  in.  At  the  intercession  of 
General  Lefort,  two  Dutch  sea-captains,  guilty  of 
notorious  disobedience,  and  who  had  been  condemned 
to  death  by  a  court-martial,  were  brought  in  to  the 
Czar,  and  after  previously  craving  pardon,  cast 
themselves  at  his  feet,  and,  receiving  back  their 
swords  from  his  own  hand,  were  restored  to  life, 
honor,  and  their  former  functions, —  an  immense  les- 
son of  the  Czar's  sovereign  clemency.  He  then  bade 
farewell,  with  a  kiss,  to  all  the  Boyars  and  repre- 
sentatives,—  indeed  in  an  especial  manner  to  the  Im- 
perial Lord  Envoy  —  excepting  the  Pole,  who  having 
got  his  recredentials,  appeared  to  be  severed  from 
further  salutation  of  his  Majesty. 

4.th  November,  1698. —  By  public  order,  all  who 
have   shops   in   the   streets   near   the   Castle   of   the 


100   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

Kremlin,  have  been  commanded  to  destroy  them  with- 
out any  subterfuge,  as  quickly  as  possible,  under 
penalty  of  confiscation  of  goods,  and  corporeal  pains 
at  discretion.  They  will  have  it,  that  the  motive 
of  this  edict  is  the  beautifying  and  ornamenting  of 
the   city. 

The  Czar's  banquet,  at  which  it  is  the  old  custom 
and  usage  to  receive  representatives  on  their  de- 
parture, was  given  to  the  Lord  Envoy  of  Poland. 

5th  November,  1698. — ■  In  virtue  of  yesterday's 
ukase,  the  shops  near  the  Castle  of  the  Kremlin  are 
already  destroyed,  so  urgent  is  obedience. 

By  another  ukase  of  the  Czar,  all  tolerably  grown 
and  robust  boys  are  to  be  sent  to  Veroneje,  to  learn 
shipbuilding  from  the  workmen  there.  The  first 
200,  who  are  to  be  sent  from  thence  into  Holland, 
began  their  journey  to-day.  Two  sons  of  the  late 
General  Menzies  were  let  off,  on  the  grounds  of  their 
weakly  age. 

8th  November,  1698. —  Doctor  Zoppot,  having 
complained  to  General  Lefort  of  his  interpreter  be- 
ing carried  off  by  force,  Romadonowski  sent  him  back 
to-day  upon  compulsion.  A  clerk  from  the  Czar's 
chancery  brought  a  monkey  to  the  same  physician 
with  an  order  for  him  to  exert  his  skill  to  cure  him. 
Zoppot  excused  himself  on  the  ground  of  his  igno- 
rance of  the  Russian  idiom,  and  suggested  his  col- 
league Carbonari  as  more  capable  of  the  cure,  on 
account  of  his  skill  in  that  tongue. 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  101 

26th  November,  1698. —  Although  the  late  inhu- 
man and  most  atrocious  execution  of  rebels  had  cut 
off  bj  halter,  blade,  and  wheel,  some  thousands  of 
men  in  a  few  days,  still  Muscovy  is  not  cleansed  of 
all  the  dregs  of  treason.  As  soon  as  the  Czar's 
Majesty  left  for  Veroneje,  the  secret  meetings  of 
some  troublous  spirits  struck  fear  into  the  minds  of 
the  well-disposed  that  stubborn  civil  war  might  rise 
again  more  fierce  then  ever.  This  suspicion  is  still 
dissembled  till  notice  be  quietly  given  to  the  Czar's 
Majesty  of  it;  that  he  may  so  provide  in  time  a 
strong  remedy  for  the  mischief  once  more  afoot,  be- 
fore it  gathers  strength. 

A  courier  that  was  sent  off  to  his  Majesty  last 
night  to  Veroneje,  with  letters  and  some  valuable 
utensils,  was  violently  seized  on  the  stone  bridge  at 
Moscow,  and  robbed  —  the  letters,  indeed,  with  the 
seals  broken,  were  found  scattered  on  the  bridge  at 
daybreak ;  but  wliither  the  utensils  —  whither  the 
courier  himself  has  been  carried,  there  was  no  trace 
to  indicate.  This  deed  is  imputed  to  the  treasonable 
conspirators ;  and  it  is  presumed  that  the  courier  has 
been  thrust  beneath  the  ice  into  the  waters  of  the 
river  Neglina. 

Ji-th  December,  1698. — «Seventy  of  the  Moscow 
night-robbers  were  seized,  of  whom  two  executioners, 
that  were  formerly  popes,  were  the  first  to  be  put 
to  the  rack. 

16th  December,  1698. —  One  of  the  sea-captains, 


102   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

spending  the  night  with  his  wife  at  the  house  of  a 
Bojar,  and  in  the  night-time  being  invited  to  drive 
out  sleighing,  for  pleasure,  along  with  the  Boyar, 
found,  on  his  return,  his  wife  with  her  head  cut  off, 
and  nothing  could  be  discovered  about  the  assassin. 
21st  December,  1698. —  The  Lord  Envoy  of  Po- 
land invited  some  Russian  princes  to  dine  with  him. 
After  copious  compotations,  with  mightily  lavish 
generosity,  he  offered  all  that  he  possessed  to  his 
guests ;  nor  were  the  Russians  squeamish  about  tak- 
ing what  was  offered.  One  asked  for  a  coach  and 
six  horses,  another  for  a  pair  of  most  costly  pistols, 
a  third  for  a  book,  which  was  all  he  saw  remaining; 
and  the  Pole  gave  each  of  them  what  he  asked,  ad- 
ding: "The  Muscovites  may  see  that  I  am  taking 
nothing  with  me  out  of  Russia  that  comes  from 
them." 

25th  December,  1698. —  A  mother  plotted  with 
her  daughter  the  death  of  her  husband,  and  the  cruel 
deed  was  perpetrated  by  two  murderers  hired  for 
thirty  kreuzers.^  Both  these  women  suffered  the 
penalty  due  to  the  crime,  which  they  confessed,  and 
were  buried  up  to  the  neck  in  the  earth.  The  mother 
bore  the  intense  cold  until  the  third  day ;  the  daugh- 
ter survived  till  the  sixth.  When  dead,  their  corpses 
were  taken  out  of  the  holes  and  hanged,  heads  down- 
most,  to  the  feet  of  the  two  assassins  before  men- 
tioned, who  had  perished  by  the  halter.  Tliis  penalty 
1  About   fifteen  cents. 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  103 

only  attaches  to  the  murder  of  a  husband  by  his  wife ; 
men  who  slay  their  wives  are  not  punished  with  such 
rigor — na}»",  very  often  the  crime  is  compounded 
for  merely  with  money. 

28th,  29th,  30th,  December,  1689, —  The  Czar's 
Majesty  came  back  from  Veroneje,  and  held  the 
daughter  of  Colonel  Baron  de  Blumberg  at  the 
christening  font.  There  were  seventeen  other  spon- 
sors along  with  him;  and  they  were  of  almost  every 
religion.  Among  the  chief  were  —  the  Imperial 
Lord  Envoy,  Generals  Lefort  and  Carlowitz,  Mr. 
Adam  Weyd.  In  the  course  of  conversation,  the 
Imperial  Lord  Envoy  began  speaking  about  the 
penalty  for  slaying  a  husband,  and  of  the  reported 
custom  of  digging  up  those  who  survived  after  the 
third  day,  and  sending  them  to  hard  labor  in  some 
monastery.  The  Czar,  whose  ear  the  words  had 
indistinctly  reached,  inquired  what  they  were  talking 
about,  and  when  he  learnt  that  it  was  about  the  lenity 
of  the  custom,  he  replied  to  his  eager  listeners,  that 
so  little  was  such  a  custom  in  force,  that  he  could 
state  that  he  knew  himself  of  a  woman,  a  long  time 
ago,  who  was  condemned  to  the  same  penalty,  and 
who  had  expiated  her  crime  with  the  death  she  de- 
served after  surviving  twelve  days  without  food. 

As  long  as  the  person  condemned  to  the  pit  con- 
tinues to  drag  out  life,  the  sentries  on  guard  are 
commanded,  under  the  most  severe  coi'poral  penalty, 
to  admit  no  food  or  drink  whatever  to  the  criminal 


104   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

which  restore  her  strength,  so  as  to  make  her  bear 
longer  tortures.  That  night  the  Czar  is  said  to 
have  gone  to  her  and  examined  her,  perhaps  with  a 
design  of  clemency,  should  she  be  found  deserving  of 
it ;  but  the  greatness  of  the  crime  stood  in  his  way, 
and  pardon  of  such  an  extremely  atrocious  example 
seemed  dangerous.  Others  averred  that  the  Czar 
wanted  to  have  one  of  the  soldiers  on  guard  free  her 
from  further  torment  of  this  slow  death  by  shooting 
her;  but  General  Lefort  cried  out  against  this  idea, 
that  it  was  not  for  a  soldier  to  shoot  a  woman,  and 
that  woman  fomid  guilty  of  death;  upon  which  and 
some  other  squeamish  word  in  addition,  the  Czar  in 
a  passion  ordered  that  the  wretched  creature  should 
be  left  until  death  came  for  her. 

31st  December,  1698. —  General  Lefort  received 
the  Czar  and  two  hundred  guests  of  the  highest  no- 
bility to  a  most  sumptuous  banquet.  The  Czar  was 
so  exasperated  at  the  exceedingly  base  calumnies  of 
two,^  who,  by  reason  of  their  holding  the  highest 
rank  after  the  Czar,  were  become  rivals,  that  he 
loudly  threatened  he  would  cut  short  the  dispute 
with  the  head  of  one  or  the  other  —  whichever  should 
be  found  most  in  fault.  He  commissioned  Prince 
Romadonowski  to  examine  into  the  affair ;  and  with 
a  violent  blow  of  his  clenched  hand  thrust  back  Gen- 

2  The  personages  here  alluded  to  are  Nareskln,  the  Czar's 
maternal  uncle,  wlio  held  the  function  of  Prime  Minister  and 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  Prince  Boris  Galizin,  Viceroy 
of  Cassan  and  Astracan. —  Transl. 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  105 

eral  Lefort,  who  was  coming  up  to  mitigate  his  fury. 

1st,  2nd,  January,  1699. —  All  the  Boyars  came 
to  the  Czar  in  Bebraschentsko  by  command.  The 
question  of  peace  or  war  was  debated. 

A  peasant  was  found  dead,  with  several  wounds, 
in  the  German  Slowoda;  the  cuts  showed  that  he 
was  murdered  with  a  knife ;  but  as  no  trace  could  be 
found  of  the  robber  —  who  had  fled  —  the  crime  had 
to  go  unpunished. 

Rebels  brought  here  from  Azow  paid  the  penalty 
of  their  treason.  Among  those  implicated  was  a 
pope  whom  the  Czar  himself,  with  his  own  hand,  laid 
low  with  the  ax.  Likewise  six  coiners  suffered  the 
same  penalty;  the  false  money  was  poured  molten 
down  their  throats. 

3rd  January,  1699. —  To-day,  being  the  eve  of 
our  Lord's  Nativity  (old  style),  which  is  preceded  by 
a  Russian  fast  of  seven  weeks,  all  the  markets  and 
public  thoroughfares  are  to  be  seen  plenished  to  over- 
flowing with  flesh  meats.  Here  you  have  an  in- 
credible multitude  of  geese;  in  another  place  such 
store  of  pigs,  ready  killed,  that  you  would  think  it 
enough  to  last  the  whole  year;  the  number  of  oxen 
killed  is  in  proportion;  fowl  of  every  kind  looked  as 
if  they  had  flown  together  from  all  Muscovy,  and 
every  part  thereof,  into  this  one  city.  It  would  be 
useless  to  attempt  naming  all  the  varieties.  Every- 
thing that  one  could  wish  for  was  to  be  had. 

One  of  the  Boyars  was   abusing  the  freedom  of 


106      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

speech  rather  too  much  in  the  Czar's  presence,  in 
Bebraschentsko ;  but  he  has  been  castigated  bodily, 
and  the  smart  of  the  stripes  has  duly  impressed  upon 
him  how  much  it  behoveth  to  be  of  reverent  speech 
with  his  sovereign. 

6th  January,  1699. —  A  woman  who  had  killed 
both  her  husband  and  her  mother  was  questioned,  by 
what  impulses  she  had  been  driven  to  commit  a  crime 
so  impious  and  inhuman  —  whether  she  did  not  know 
with  what  cruel  rigor  crimes  of  that  kind  were 
avenged?  To  the  amazement  of  the  inquirer,  she 
replied,  with  a  fearless  front :  "  I  lately  saw  two 
women  found  guilty  of  killing  a  husband  awaiting  a 
slow  death  in  their  pits:  I  neither  doubt  that  the 
same  torment  awaits  me,  nor  do  I  crave  for  any 
favor;  it  is  enough  for  me  that,  having  killed  my 
husband  and  my  mother  I  can  rejoice  at  so  bold  a 
deed.'*  The  ordinary  penalty  of  the  pit  was  sharp- 
ened in  her  case,  by  burning  her  limbs  in  addition. 

8th,  9th  January,  1699. —  The  Czar  was  dining 
with  Prince  Galizin,  when  a  sudden  tumult  announced 
that  a  fire  had  broken  out,  and  had  already  con- 
sumed the  house  of  a  certain  Boyar.  The  Czar,  ex- 
cited at  this,  springing  hastily  from  the  table  and 
running  headlong  to  the  place  where  he  had  heard  the 
fire  was  raging,  not  only  gave  his  advice,  but  ac- 
tually employed  his  own  hands  in  putting  out  the 
flames,  and  was  seen  laboring  away  among  the  very 
tottering  ruins  of  the  house. 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  107 

l^tJi  January,  1699. — ^A  certain  juggler  (in  the 
vernacular,  Taschenspieler)  reached  Muscovy  a  long 
time  ago,  with  mighty  hopes  of  making  a  fortune  by 
his  art  in  such  far  off  lands.  Coming  from  his  na- 
tive Scotland,  he  ambitiously  used  to  boast  that  he 
was  of  the  stock  of  those  the  splendor  of  whose  il- 
lustrious blood  General  de  Gordon  had  proved  to 
Muscovy  by  his  noble  deeds.  It  seems  that  his  claim 
might  have  been  acknowledged,  if  the  baseness  of  a 
jester's  art,  which  was  his  sole  profession,  had  not 
condemned  him  to  be  injuriously  treated  as  base- 
born  ;  nor  had  the  fierce  eagles  j^rocreated  a  timid 
dove.  Fate  led  this  poor  devil,  cast  off  by  his  proud 
kin,  by  an  unbroken  chain  of  calamity  to  his  utter 
destruction  at  last.  Falling  into  a  brawl  with  a  cap- 
tain whose  name  was  Schmid,  he  forged^  the  last 
link  of  his  misfortunes.  The  captain's  wife  rushing 
in  with  her  two  grown-up  daughters  to  help  her  hus- 
band, who  was  grappling  with  the  juggler,  and  almost 
on  the  point  of  succumbing;  the  number  of  hands 
upon  him  drove  the  juggler  to  fiercer  counsels;  so 
snatching  the  dirk  which  he  carried,  he  struck  so 
deep  into  the  captain's  side,  that  his  life's  blood 
gushed   forth   and  he   expired.     When   the  deed   of 

3 "  Forged,"  a  pun  upon  the  name  Schmid ;  the  German 
equivalent  of  the  English  patronymic  Smith,  respecting  which 
a  rare  and  quaint  heraldic  writer,  Morgan,  in  his  "  Sphere  of 
Gentry"  (London  1660-1661)  reflects:  "Whence  cometh 
Smith,  or  whether  he  be  knight  or  squire?  But  from  the  Smith 
that  forgeth  in  the  fire?"     Transl. 


108   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

death  was  done  he  fled  to  the  Lord  Envoy  of  Poland 
for  sanctuary ;  but  it  was  an  unhappy  thought,  for 
the  Envoy,  being  on  the  point  of  leaving  Muscovy 
from  day  to  day,  was  in  doubt  whether  he  could  con- 
vey the  poor  wretch  safely  away,  and  so  he  himself 
hastily,  and  too  thoughtlessly,  conducted  the  man 
in  a  sledge  from  the  Ambassadorial  Court  into  the 
German  suburb, —  from  a  place  of  asylum  and  safe 
concealment  into  open  peril  of  prison,  life,  and  ex- 
ecution ;  fancying  that  he  would  be  longer  safely 
hidden  in  Colonel  de  Gordon's  house,  who  was  in  the 
Czar's  service,  and  had  a  right  to  give  orders  to 
anj'body,  than  among  those  whom  the  unanimous 
consent  of  nations  far  and  wide  has  surrounded  with 
a  barrier,  as  it  were,  sacred,  legal  and  inviolate. 
The  Envoy's  going  in  person  in  the  evening,  and  in 
such  turbulent  haste,  towards  the  German  Slowoda, 
gave  rise  to  a  suspicion  of  whom  he  was  bringing. 
No  sooner  was  he  brought  back  than,  trace  of  him 
being  found,  the  juggler  was  delivered  up,  upon 
summons  of  the  head  man;  the  sentence  of  the  pop- 
ulace, as  usual,  having  decreed  peculiarly  atrocious 
pains  for  him  for  having  deprived  a  wife  of  her  hus- 
band and  left  four  children  fatherless.  Under  the 
penal  question,  the  pangs  of  which  he  thrice  bore 
to  the  envy  of  the  Muscovites,  he  alleged  the  neces- 
sity he  was  under  of  killing  in  his  own  defense,  that 
he  was  driven  to  that  crime  in  order  to  escape  being 
strangled  by  the  other,  as  was  imminent. 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  109 

A  serf  had  been  pardoned  of  the  treacherous  shiy- 
ing  of  his  master;  but  the  Czar  having  acquired  the 
certainty  of  his  having  committed  a  fresh  man- 
slaughter to-day,  commanded  liim  to  be  cast  into 
irons  and  executed. 

13th  January,  1699. —  A  sumptuous  comedy  cele- 
brates the  time  of  Our  Lord's  Nativity.  The  chief 
Muscovites,  at  the  Czar's  choice,  shine  in  various 
sham  ecclesiastical  dignities.  One  represents  the 
Patriarch,  others  Metropolites,  Archimandrites, 
Popes,  Deacons,  Sub-Deacons,  etc.  Each,  accord- 
ing to  whichever  denomination  of  these  the  Czar  has 
given  him,  has  to  put  on  the  vestments  that  belong 
to  it.  The  scenic  Patriarch,  with  his  sham  metro- 
polites and  the  rest  in  eighty  sledges,  and  to  the 
number  of  two  hundred,  makes  the  round  of  the 
city  of  ]\Ioscow  and  the  German  Slowoda,  ensigned 
with  crosses,  miter,  and  the  other  insignia  of  his 
assumed  dignity.  They  all  stop  at  the  houses  of 
the  richer  Muscovites  and  German  officers,  and  sing 
the  praises  of  the  new-born  Deity  in  strains  for 
which  the  inhabitants  of  those  houses  have  to  pay 
dearly.  After  they  had  sung  the  praises  of  the  new- 
born Deity  at  his  house.  General  Lefort  recreated 
them  all  with  pleasanter  music,  banqueting  and  danc- 
ing. 

lJi,tli  January,  1699. —  The  wealthiest  merchant 
of  Muscovy,  whose  name  is  Filadilow,  gave  such  of- 
fense by  having  only  presented  twelve  roubles  to  the 


110   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

Czar  and  his  Boyars,  who  sung  the  praises  of  God, 
new-born,  at  his  house,  that  the  Czar,  with  all  pos- 
sible speed,  sent  off  a  hundred  of  the  populace  to 
the  house  of  the  merchant,  with  a  mandate  to  pay 
forthwith  to  every  vOne  of  them  a  rouble  each.  But 
Prince  Tzerkasky,  whom  they  had  nicknamed  the 
richest  rustic,  was  rendered  more  prudent  by  what 
befell  his  neighbor;  —  in  order  not  to  merit  the 
Czar's  anger  he  offered  a  thousand  roubles  to  the 
mob  of  singers.  It  behoved  the  Germans  to  make 
show  of  equal  readiness.  Everywhere  they  keep  the 
table  ready  with  cold  viands,  not  to  be  found  unpre- 
pared. 

15th,  16th  January,  1699. —  The  festival  of  the 
Three  Kings,  or  rather  the  Epiphany  of  Our  Lord, 
w^as  graced  with  the  blessing  of  the  river  Neglina. 
The  Lord  Envoy  went  to  see  this  grand  annual 
solemnity  from  the  windows  of  the  Ambassadorial 
chancery  which  looks  out  upon  the  river.  The  pro- 
cession to  the  river,  which  was  frozen  over,  went  in 
this  order:  General  de  Gordon's  regiment  opened 
the  line,  Major  Menzies  at  their  head  instead  of 
Colonel  Gordon ;  the  exquisite  red  of  their  new  uni- 
forms adding  to  their  splendid  appearance.  Gor- 
don's regiment  was  followed  by  another,  called  Beb- 
raschentsko,  in  handsome  new  green  uniforms ;  the 
Tsar  had  taken  the  place  of  its  chief,  his  fine  port 
winning  respect  for  Majesty.  There  followed  a 
third  regiment,  which  they  call  Scmonowski,  the  good 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  111 

grace  of  which  a  dwarf  drummer  increased  in  the 
same  proportion  as  nature  had  curtailed  in  his  per- 
son the  common  stature  of  manldnd.  The  soldiers' 
uniforms  were  blue.  Every  regiment  had  two  bands 
of  musicians,  each  composed  of  eighteen  instru- 
mentalists. The  Bebraschcntsko  regiment  was  fol- 
low^ed  by  eight,  and  the  others  by  six  pieces  of  can- 
non. Almost  all  the  officers  of  these  regiments  are 
German  by  birth  or  origin.  A  place  was  railed  off 
upon  the  ice-bound  river.  Gordon's  regiment  was 
drawn  up  across  the  stream  above,  Semonowski  be- 
low, and  that  of  Bebraschentsko  longitudinally  about 
the  place  where  the  enclosure  was  erected.  That 
week  General  Lefort's  regiment  happened  to  be  on 
guard,  in  consequence  of  Avhich  two  companies  of 
it  escorted  the  clergy,  and  two  more,  with  white 
wands  in  their  hands,  made  way  and  kept  off  the 
pressure  of  the  crowd.  Immediately  in  front  of  the 
ropes,  went  twelve  semskoi  (sewers  of  the  Czar's 
kitchen)  carrying  brooms  to  keep  the  streets  clean. 
Five  hundred  ecclesiastics,  sub-deacons,  deacons, 
priests,  abbots,  bishops,  and  archbishops,  clad  in  the 
vestments  proper  to  their  dignity  and  office,  and 
gleaming  with  ornature  of  gold  and  silver,  and  gems 
and  precious  stones,  lent  an  air  of  greater  majesty 
to  devotion.  Before  a  splendid  gold  cross  twelve 
clerics  bore  a  lantern  with  three  burning  wax  lights ; 
the  Muscovites  consider  it  unlawful  and  shameful  for 
the  cross  to  appear  in  public  unattended  with  lights. 


112      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

An  incredible  multitude  of  people  had  thronged 
from  every  side ;  the  streets  were  full ;  the  roofs  of 
the  houses  covered ;  the  walls  of  the  city  crowded 
with  spectators.  When  the  clergy  had  filled  the 
ample  space  of  the  enclosure,  the  sacred  ceremonies 
began,  multitudes  of  wax-torches  being  lighted  up 
before  the  Divine  invocations  commenced.  When 
the  Almighty  had  been  invoked  according  to  their 
ritual,  the  Metropolite  went  around  incensing  the 
whole  enclosure,  in  the  middle  of  which  the  ice  was 
broken  with  a  mattock,  allowing  the  water  to  appear 
like  a  well.  This  he  thrice  incensed,  and  hallowed 
it  by  thrice  dipping  a  burning  wax-light  into  it,  and 
by  the  customary  benediction.  Near  the  enclosure 
there  was  erected  a  pillar  higher  than  its  walls,  from 
which  he  who  had  been  deemed  worthy  of  that  honor 
by  the  Tsar,  waved  the  standard  of  the  realm.  To 
be  chosen  by  the  Tsar  for  this  office  is  considered  to 
be  a  very  special  favor  of  his  Majesty,  a  more  ample 
argument  of  which  you  have  in  their  being  custom- 
arily presented  with  new  garaients  from  head  to 
foot,  and  with  some  gold  pieces  besides,  at  the 
Tsar's  pleasure,  on  this  occasion.  The  standard  in 
question  is  white,  with  a  double-headed  eagle  em- 
broidered in  gold.  It  is  not  allowed  to  be  unfurled 
till  the  clergy  have  entered  within  the  enclosure  of 
the  stage.  Then  the  standard  bearer  has  to  watch 
the  ceremonies,  the  incensing,  the  blessing  —  each  of 
which   he   indicates   by   waving   the   standard.     His 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  113 

motions  are  closely  observed  by  the  regimental  stand- 
ard-bearers, in  order  to  wave  at  the  same  time  as  he 
does. 

When  the  benediction  of  the  water  is  over,  all  the 
regimental  standards  approach  and  stand  around 
to  be  duly  sprinkled  with  the  hallowed  water.  The 
Patriarch  or  in  his  absence,  the  Metropolite,  leaving 
the  enclosure  or  choir,  bestowed  this  sprinkling  upon 
his  Majesty  the  Tsar,  and  all  the  soldiers.  To  com- 
plete the  solemnity  of  the  festival,  at  the  Tsar's  word 
of  command  the  artillery  of  all  the  regiments  roared 
out,  which  was  responded  to  by  a  triple  volley  of 
musketry.  Before  the  ceremony  began,  a  vessel  — 
not  unlike  a  sarcophagus  in  shape  —  covered  with 
red  cloth,  in  which  the  hallowed  water  was  to  be 
carried  to  his  Majesty  the  Tsar's  palace,  was  drawn 
hither  by  six  of  his  Majesty's  white  horses.  Clerics 
bore  a  vessel  for  the  Patriarch  also,  and  several 
others  for  the  Boyars  and  Magnates. 

18tli  January,  1699. —  Many  of  the  sailor  serfs 
that  were  lately  taken  to  Holland,  and  who  have  just 
come  back  to  Muscovy,  have  married,  though  they 
left  lawfully  wedded  wIa'cs  behind  them  in  Holland. 
This  having  come  to  the  knowledge  of  General  and 
Admiral  Lefort,  he  prohibited  all  pastors  of  churches, 
parsons  and  missionaries  of  whatsoever  religion, 
from  presuming  to  unite  or  join  any  person  in  mar- 
riage without  his  foreknowledge  and  special  consent. 
This  prohibition  rested  on  just  grounds;  for  other- 


114   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

wise  it  would  have  been  easy  for  these  most  incon- 
stant men  to  trample  heaven,  rehgion  and  good 
morals  under  foot,  and  fall  headlong  into  that  most 
pestilent  madness,  polygamy. 

19th,  20th  January,  1699.— The  Czar's  physi- 
cian, Gregory  Marinowicz  Carbonari  de  Bisenegg, 
dining  with  us,  was  summoned  by  Gosen,  the  apothe- 
cary, to  attend  a  sick  monk.  Perhaps  the  moon  at 
that  time  had  taken  away  the  fellow's  lucid  interval, 
—  for  against  all  rule  and  worship,  without  having 
the  decency  to  send  in  word,  with  the  clownishness 
one  meets  in  public  inns,  he  had  stalked  into  the 
room  where  the  Lord  Envoy  and  his  guests  were  at 
dinner.  All  stood  aghast  at  this  impudence  of  a 
man  who  was  scarcely  known,  and  whom  many  had 
never  seen,  when,  without  uttering  a  word,  he  beck- 
oned to  the  physician,  and  with  a  disdainful  nod, 
summoned  him  to  his  presence.  The  doctor,  indig- 
nant at  having  to  deal  with  a  madman,  plainly 
showed  that  this  bore  was  no  favorite  with  him.  The 
Imperial  Lord  Envoy,  too,  lost  further  patience  with 
this  outrageous  raving  fool,  who  seemed  to  be  stretch- 
ing the  Czar's  command  falsely  by  his  servants,  and 
to  be  warned  that  if  he  ever  again  attempted  any- 
thing so  rash,  he  should  not  leave  unpunished.  For 
who  could  have  believed  that  a  man  notoriously  sub- 
ject to  fits  of  insanity  would  be  employed  in  the 
service  of  the  Sovereign? 

And  the  doctor  was  all  the  more  in  doubt  that  the 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  115 

Czar  had  really  given  such  an  order,  from  having  just 
come  from  visiting  that  very  same  person.  But  the 
madman's  fury  grew  wild.  The  apothecary  flew 
helter  skelter,  madman  like,  to  the  Czar  —  vociferat- 
ing with  great  impetuosity  that  the  Czar's  commands 
had  been  treated  Avith  contempt,  that  he  himself  had 
been  insulted,  that  the  doctor's  disobedience  was  un- 
pardonable; and  he  was  supported  in  his  complaints 
by  one  who  is  either  a  connection  of  his  by  marriage, 
or  a  member  of  the  same  religion.  By  their  accu- 
sations the  Czar's  wrath  was  roused  against  the  blame- 
less physician,  and  they  endeavored  to  make  it  more 
perilous  to  him  by  another  perverse  stratagem. 
For  when  the  doctor,  after  again  visiting  the  sick 
man,  asked,  for  the  sake  of  paying  his  court,  to  be 
admitted  to  the  Czar,  the  ensign  then  on  guard 
denied  him  access  during  two  whole  hours,  on  pur- 
pose that  his  apparent  delay  in  coming,  which  the 
physician  could  not  then  explain,  might  give  a  color 
of  truth  to  their  iniquitous  complaint.  Thus  it  oc- 
curred that  the  Czar  would  not  listen  to  him,  Avhen 
he  was  at  length  allowed  admission :  but  ordered  him, 
like  a  public  criminal,  to  give  himself  up  at  once 
into  the  hands  of  the  guard,  and  go  into  arrest. 

About  dusk,  the  funeral  of  Captain  Schmid,  that 
was  lately  killed,  took  place,  the  Czar  attending  it. 
I  cannot  omit  to  mention  how  stolidly,  and  with  what 
scandal  to  his  hearers  the  preacher  in  the  course  of 
usual  discourse  was  not  ashamed  openly  to  say  that 


116      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

there  could  be  no  doubt  that  a  man  whom  another 
had  criminally  slain  would  enjoy  eternal  beatitude; 
but  that  the  slayer,  even  should  he  escape  punish- 
ment in  this  world,  would  never  get  free  from  ever- 
lasting damnation  —  a  judgment  worthy  surely  of 
himself  alone. 

25th  January,  1699. —  The  Czar's  physician, 
Carbonari  de  Bisenegg,  being  freed  from  arrest  to- 
day, when  he  inquired  of  Prince  Romadonowski  why 
he  was  so  long  kept  in  confinement,  got  no  other 
answer  than  that  it  was  done  to  vex  him :  an  exceed- 
ingly pleasant  and  elegant  jest,  certainly,  which,  if 
it  be  not  dangerous  to  the  vexed  man's  life,  at  least 
imperils  and  risks  his  honor.  Such  vexing,  cer- 
tainly, does  not  prove  him  that  suffers  it  to  be  in  the 
right,  but  it  exhibits  him  who  inflicts  it  in  the  wrong. 
28th  January,  1699. —  Ernest  Wilhelm  von  SenfF 
was  kidnapped  by  Boyar  Plesceow  on  his  travels  in 
a  place  called  Zuckermandl,  and  brought  by  force 
and  false  persuasions  into  Muscovy.  Now  he  was 
treated  most  horribly  in  Moscow ;  for  he  got  no  food, 
but  mere  guass  ^  and  bread.  If  he  asked  for  any- 
thing else  the  Muscovites  knocked  his  head  against 
the  wall.  To  this  boy  of  sixteen  years  of  age,  at 
the  utmost,  Boyar  Plesceow  offered  several  girls  to 
take  his  choice  of  the  handsomest  if  he  would  first 
embrace  the  Russian  religion;  nay,  there  was  a  fear 
lest  he  should  be  depraved  by  another  infamous 
4  A  kind  of  mead. 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  117 

usage.  He  fled  in  tears  to  the  Lord  Envoy  Imperial, 
for  refuge,  on  the  first  day  of  the  Christmas  holi- 
days ;  but  the  Czar,  at  the  Boyar's  instance,  re- 
quested that  the  boy  be  sent  to  him,  as  it  were,  to 
be  attached  to  his  own  service  and  court,  and  that 
he  should  henceforward  neither  feel  harshness,  nor 
want,  nor  violence,  on  account  of  his  religion. 
Nevertheless,  to-day  being  fully  emancipated,  he 
came  back  to  the  Lord  Envoy. 

A  certain  English  merchant  has  been  sentenced  to 
pay  a  fine  of  a  thousand  roubles,  because  his  brother 
(would  not  pay  a  bill  of  exchange  for  two  thousand 
ducats  to  certain  Russians  that  were  going  from 
England  to  Catalonia ;  although  the  whole  fault 
should  most  justly  have  been  laid  upon  these  very 
Muscovites  themselves,  inasmuch  as  they  only  asked 
for  five  hundred  ducats  when  they  were  going  away. 

2nd  February,  1699. —  To-day  Bacchus  con- 
secrated with  solemn  Epicurean  rites,  to  wit  with 
feasting,  the  house  which  the  Czar  lately  gave  to  his 
favorite  Alexasca.  Last  week  thirty  Strelitz  came 
here  from  the  camp  at  Azow  to  inspect  the  state  of 
Moscow,  and  to  see  how  they  might  bring  their  trea- 
sonable designs  to  bear  according  to  their  desires. 
But  indications  of  their  impious  designs  being  con- 
veyed to  the  Tsar,  all  were  seized,  and  underwent  for 
the  first  time  the  atrocious  torture  of  the  rack,  the 
Tsar  questioning  them. 

3rd  February,  1699. —  The  Brandenburgh  Envoy, 


118      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

reciprocating  the  customary  civilities,  visited  the 
Imperial  Lord  Envoy,  with  the  whole  of  his  magnifi- 
cent train  for  greater  state. 

While  the  thirty  Strelitz  above  mentioned  are  un- 
dergoing torture  here,  again  five  hundred  Strelitz 
more  have  revolted  in  the  neighborhood  of  Moscow. 

^th  February,  1699. — ^For  the  fresh  rebels  new 
racks  were  made  ready.  Every  Boyar  is  an  in- 
quisitor; to  torture  the  guilty  was  deemed  a  token 
of  remarkable  loyalty.  The  officials  of  a  certain 
Envoy,  whose  curiosity  for  sight-seeing  had  led  them 
to  Bebraschentsko,  had  inspected  various  prisons  of 
the  criminals,  hastening  whithersoever  more  atrocious 
howls  betokened  a  tragedy  of  greater  anguish.  Al- 
ready they  passed  with  horror  through  three,  when 
howls  more  appalling  and  groans  more  horrible  than 
they  had  yet  heard  stimulated  them  to  examine  what 
cruelty  was  going  on  in  a  fourth  house.  But  hardly 
had  they  set  foot  within  it  than  they  were  about 
withdrawing  again,  being  startled  at  the  sight  of  the 
Tsar  and  the  Boyars.  Nareskin,  Romadonowski, 
and  Tichon  Nikitowicz  were  the  chief  persons.  As 
they  were  about  retiring  Nareskin  addressed  them, 
inquiring  who  they  were,  and  whence  and  why  they 
had  come  here.  They  felt  sore  at  being  caught  by 
foreigners  in  the  performance  of  that  office.  He 
then  ordered  an  interpreter  to  tell  them  to  go  to 
Romadonowski's  house,  for  that  the  Knes  had  some- 
thing   to    say    to    them.     When    they    refused    the 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  119 

Tsar's  commands  wore  added,  with  the  threat,  that  If 
they  would  not  obey  their  contempt  should  not  go 
unpunished.  Nothing  dismayed  by  this  threat, 
trusting  in  their  freedom,  they  replied  still  more 
confidently  to  those  who  were  giving  these  orders, 
that  they  listened  to  commands  from  no  person  what- 
soever —  that  if  the  Knes  had  anything  to  say  to 
them,  he  was  not  ignorant  what  Envoy's  household 
they  were,  and  that  at  his  residence  all  could  be  bet- 
ter settled.  As  they  were  going  off,  one  of  the 
military  officers  followed  them  to  drag  them  by  vio- 
lence to  the  place  the  Boyars  had  ordered,  and 
did  not  hesitate  to  lay  hands  upon  a  horse  at  full 
gallop,  to  stop  him ;  but  the  party  of  the  officials 
was  stronger  both  in  courage  and  numbers ;  they 
dashed  aside  by  main  force  his  attempt  to  stop 
them,  and  reached  safe  shelter.  Perhaps  for  penalty 
of  their  rash  curiosity,  they  would  have  been  forced 
to  exhibit  themselves  before  the  Boyars  in  the  same 
capacity  as  they  had  detected  them. 

5th  February,  1699. —  An  accomplice  of  the  re- 
bellion was  undergoing  the  penal  question.  While 
he  was  being  tied  to  the  rack,  his  lamentations  gave 
rise  to  a  hope  that  the  truth  might  be  pressed  from 
him  by  torments ;  but  the  event  was  quite  the  con- 
trary, for  as  soon  as  his  body  began  to  be  stretched 
with  the  rope,  besides  the  horrible  crackling  of  his 
members  which  were  being  torn  from  their  natural 
sockets,  he  remained  mute,  even  when  twenty  strokes 


120   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

of  the  knout  were  superadded,  as  If  the  accumulation 
of  his  pain  were  too  great  to  afflict  the  senses.  All 
believed  that  the  man  must  be  crushed  with  excess 
of  calamity  to  such  a  degree,  that  he  must  have  lost 
the  power  of  moaning  and  speech.  So  he  was  loosed 
from  the  infamous  rack  and  rope,  and  then  asked 
whether  he  knew  the  persons  present.  To  the  as- 
tonishment of  all,  he  enumerated  the  names  of  every 
one  of  them.  But  when  they  put  a  fresh  question 
about  the  treason,  once  more  he  became  uttei'ly 
dumb,  and  did  not  break  silence  during  a  whole 
quarter  of  an  hour,  while  he  was  roasted  at  a  fire  by 
the  Czar's  command.  The  Czar,  tired  at  last  of 
this  exceedingly  wicked  stubborness  of  the  traitor, 
furiously  raised  the  stick  which  he  happened  to  have 
in  his  hand,  and  thrust  it  so  violently  into  his  jaws  — 
clenched  in  obstinate  silence  —  to  break  them  open, 
and  make  him  give  tongue  and  speak.  And  these 
words,  too,  that  fell  from  the  raging  man:  "  Con- 
fess, beast,  confess !  "  loudly  proclaimed  how  great 
was  his  wrath. 

7th  February,  1699. —  Dr.  Zoppot  began  to  prac- 
tice anatomy  in  the  presence  of  the  Czar  and  a  great 
number  of  Boyars,  who,  to  their  disgust,  were  coerced 
by  the  Czar's  commands. 

One  of  the  rebels  under  examination  had  made  a 
dagger  to  kill  himself,  but  strength  failed  him  to 
complete  his  crime ;  still  the  wound  was  such  that,  if 
neglected,  it  would  lead  to  death.     It  was  the  Sov- 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  121 

ereign's  interest  that  the  man  should  not  escape  ex- 
amination and  torture  by  a  premature  death;  so  he 
commanded  that  every  diligence  should  be  employed 
by  the  physicians  to  heal  his  wound.  Nay,  he  had 
the  heart  to  be  present  and  to  solace  the  criminal- 
patient  when  the  medicines  were  being  prepared,  in 
order  that  the  doctors  might  be  more  attentive  to  do 
everything  faithfully  for  the  best  to  effect  a  cure  on 
account  of  his  presence. 

12th  February,  1699. —  A  certain  foreigner,  dis- 
tinguished by  an  office  which  is  held  sacred  among 
the  nations,  looking  for  comforts  that  are  not  com- 
patible with  the  rigors  of  a  northern  climate,  drank 
an  immoderate  quantity  of  wine,  and  in  order  to  try 
and  cool  the  heat  of  his  body  with  the  freezing  air, 
drove  round  all  the  streets  of  the  city  in  an  open 
carriage,  and  did  not  return  home  until  he  had,  by 
striking  and  banging  against  things,  shattered  the 
carriage  so  that  it  was  no  longer  capable  of  bearing 
its  burden  and  driver.  He  attributes  it  to  his  good 
luck  that  he  was  not  caught  by  the  Muscovite  night- 
rovers,  or  massacred  utterly,  especially  as  the  main 
delight  of  the  Muscovite  populace  is  to  rob  and  run 
riot  against  the  Germans."  We  had  a  splendid  proof 
of  this  to-day.  One  of  our  messengers  that  knows 
the  Russian  language  fell  in  with  a  Russian,  who  was 
furiously  vomiting  forth  a  quantity  of  foul  speeches 

5  A  term  used  in  the  daj^s  of  Peter  the  Great  to  designate  all 
foreigners. 


122      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

against  the  Germans.  "  Ye  German  dogs !  "  he  was 
saying,  "  you  have  been  robbing  long  enough  at  your 
ease,  but  the  day  is  at  liand  when  you  shall  suffer 
and  pay  the  penalty."  The  messenger,  in  order  to 
have  another  witness  to  this  contumelious  language, 
called  a  soldier,  and  at  last  ordered  the  rascal  to 
be  dragged  off  in  custody;  but,  by  command  of  the 
Imperial  Lord  Envoy,  the  fellow  was  left  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  soldiers,  who  stripped  him  naked  and 
loaded  him  with  a  sound  fustigation. 

13th  February,  1699. —  A  direful  day  is  this,  and 
one  that  ought  truly  to  be  marked  with  a  black 
token,  for  it  beheld  the  execution  of  two  hundred 
men,  all  whose  heads  were  cut  off  with  the  ax.  In 
a  very  wide  space,  close  to  the  Kremlin  Castle,  beams 
were  stretched  for  the  criminals  to  lay  their  heads 
upon.  I  measured  the  length  myself  in  paces  —  it 
was  two  beams  in  breadth.  His  Majesty  the  Czar, 
along  with  a  certain  Alexander,  in  whose  society 
he  takes  great  delight,  came  thither  in  an  open  car- 
riage, and  crossing  the  funereal  area,  entered  a  place 
near  at  hand,  where  thirty  that  were  found  guilty  of 
this  nefarious  conspiracy  expiated  their  crime  with 
death.  Meanwhile  the  dismal  crowd  of  criminals 
had  filled  up  the  space  above  described,  and  the  Czar 
had  come  back  in  order  that  the  men  should  be  pun- 
ished in  his  presence  who  cogitated  such  a  crime 
with  impious  counsels  against  him  when  absent.  A 
scribe,  mounting  upon  a  bench  that  was  brought  by 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  123 

soldiers,  proclaimed,  in  several  places,  the  sentence 
framed  against  the  rebels,  that  the  enormity  of  the 
fault  and  the  justice  of  the  punislunent  about  being 
inflicted,  might  be  better  known  to  the  multitude 
round  about.  When  he  ceased  the  executioner  be- 
gan the  tragedy ;  there  was  a  kind  of  order  among 
the  unfortunate  wretches ;  they  all  followed  one  an- 
other in  turn,  without  any  sadness  on  their  features, 
or  any  horror  of  their  imminent  death.  Yet  I  do 
not  want  to  refer  that  contempt  of  death  to  great- 
ness of  soul.  I  rather  think  that  the  infamy  of 
their  atrocious  guilt,  and  the  cruel  remembrance  of 
the  tortures  with  which  they  were  daily  butchered, 
had  brought  them  to  that  contempt  of  life  and  self. 
A  wife  and  children  followed  one  of  them  up  to  the 
very  beam,  with  great  and  frightful  wailing.  As 
this  man  was  on  the  point  of  laying  down,  he  gave 
his  gloves  and  linen  —  all  that  he  had  left  —  to  his 
wife  and  the  sorrowful  group  of  his  beloved  off- 
spring, by  way  of  last  farewell.  Another,  to  whose 
turn  it  came  to  kiss  the  fatal  beam  complained  that 
he  was  forced  to  go  innocent  to  death ;  and  the  Czar, 
who  was  not  farther  than  one  step  away  from  him, 
answered  him:  "  Die,  wretch!  If  thou  be  innocent, 
the  guUt  of  thy  blood  'will  be  mine." 

Besides  the  Czar  and  the  above-named  Alexander, 
some  others  of  the  principal  Muscovites  were  there. 
The  Czar  told  one  of  them  to  take  the  ax  himself; 
and  when  he  would  excuse  himself,  saying  that  he 


124   COURT  OF  TETER  THE  GREAT 

had  not  sufficient  courage  for  that  office,  he  was 
deemed  worthy  of  being  told  that  he  was  an  ass. 
When  the  execution  was  over,  it  pleased  the  Czar's 
Majesty  to  sup  at  General  Gordon's ;  but  he  showed 
no  sign  of  cheerfulness,  insisting  to  several  upon  the 
obstinacy  and  stubborness  of  the  criminals.  He  de- 
tailed with  indignant  words  to  General  Gordon  and 
the  Muscovite  magnates  present,  that  one  of  the  con- 
demned was  so  insolent  that  he  dared,  just  as  he  was 
about  lying  down  upon  the  beam,  to  address  the  Czar 
with  these  words :  "  Make  way,  my  lord,  it  is  for 
me  to  lie  here."  Out  of  150,  only  three  confessed 
themselves  guilty  of  the  crime  and  treason,  and 
begged  pardon  of  the  Czar's  Majesty  there  present, 
for  which  they  were  held  worthy  of  their  Sovereign's 
clemency,  were  freed  from  the  penalty  of  death,  and 
obtained  pardon  for  their  delict.  But  for  next  day 
a  fresh  scene  of  execution  was  being  decked ;  and  the 
Czar  invited  General  Gordon  to  it,  telling  him  that 
he  wished  to  execute  the  criminals  by  a  new  mode, 
unknown  to  his  people,  to  wit,  with  the  sword  in- 
stead of  the  ax.  IMoreover,  the  often-mentioned 
Alexander  ^  showed  that  evening,  riding  in  an  open 
carriage  through  all  the  thoroughfares  of  the  city, 
by  the  exceedingly  frequent  flourishing  of  a  naked 
sword  how  sanguinary  a  tragedy  he  expected  next 
day. 
6  Alexander  Mentschikow.     See  Appendix. 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  125 

Before  It  was  quite  dark,  a  certain  Russian  and 
eighteen  accomplices  of  his  were  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned for  rapine  committed. 

lJf,tli  Fehruary,  1609. —  At  the  Jausa  150  rebels 
were  dragged  to  execution.  The  Czar  is  said  to  have 
cut  off  84  rebel  heads  with  the  sword,  Boyar  Plesceow 
holding  up  each  criminal  in  such  a  manner  by  the 
hair  as  to  render  the  blow  more  certain.  Three 
swords  were  prepared  for  this  use :  one,  while  it  was 
being  brandished,  flew  in  pieces  and  missed  its  stroke. 
The  Cossacks  who  had  mixed  themselves  up  with  this 
revolt  were  quartered  and  set  upon  the  ignominious 
stake,  as  a  terror  and  example  of  punishment  to 
those  whose  restless  spirits  might  henceforward,  per- 
haps, tempt  them  to  flagitious  daring.  Five  more, 
guilty  of  more  insolent  counsel,  had  their  hands  and 
feet  first   cut  ofF,   and  then  were  beheaded. 

19tli  Fehruary,  1699. —  Great  is  the  multitude  of 
robbers  in  Muscovy,  and  greater  still  their  audacit}'. 
Their  cruel  pursuits  have  so  obliterated  human  feel- 
ings and  shame  from  their  hearts,  that  even  in  the 
broad  daylight  they  are  not  afraid  to  set  upon  the 
people.  Just  as  the  day  was  declining,  but  while 
there  was  still  broad  light,  a  servant  of  Zoppot,  the 
Czar's  physician,  was  attacked  by  one  of  the  bandit 
tribe,  who  after  rifling  him,  would  beyond  doubt,  as 
their  fashion  is,  have  murdered  him,  had  not  the 
doctor,  perceiving  what  was  taking  place,  disturbed 


126   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

the  robber  in  his  designs  by  coming  speedily  and 
suddenly  to  the  rescue  along  with  some  others  that 
fortunately  he  had  met. 

At  nightfall  the  Imperial  Lord  Envoy  and  the 
rest  of  the  representatives  were  invited  by  Colonel 
Baron  de  Blumberg,  in  the  name  of  his  Majesty,  the 
Czar,  to  come  to  the  suburban  residence  of  Prince 
Romadonowslci,  to  a  show  of  fireworks.  The  first 
representation  was  three  crowns  with  the  legend, 
vivant;  the  second  was  a  double  heart,  with  the  word, 
vivat;  the  third  was  another  double  heart  without 
motto. 

21st  February,  1699. —  A  sham  Patriarch  and  a 
complete  set  of  scenic  clergy  dedicated  to  Bacchus, 
with  solemn  festivities,  the  palace  which  was  built 
at  the  Czar's  expense,  and  which  it  has  pleased  him 
now  to  have  called  Lefort's.  A  procession  thither 
set  out  from  Colonel  Lima's  house.  He  that  bore 
the  assumed  honors  of  the  Patriarch  was  conspicuous 
in  the  vestments  proper  to  a  bishop.  Bacchus  was 
decked  with  a  miter,  and  went  stark  naked,  to  be- 
token lasciviousness  to  the  lookers  on.  Cupid  and 
Venus  were  the  insignia  on  his  crozier,  lest  there 
should  be  any  mistake  about  what  flock  he  was  pastor 
of.  The  remaining  rout  of  Bacchanalians  came 
after  him,  some  carrying  great  bowls  full  of  wine, 
others  mead,  others  again  beer  and  brandy,  that 
last  joj  of  heated  Bacchus.     And  as  the  wintry  cold 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  12T 

hindered  their  binding  their  brows  with  laurel,  they 
carried  great  dishes  of  dried  tobacco  leaves,  with 
which,  Avhen  ignited,  they  went  to  the  remotest  corn- 
ers of  the  palace,  exhaling  those  most  delectable 
odors  and  most  pleasant  incense  to  Bacchus  from 
their  smutty  jaws.  Two  of  those  pipes  through 
wliich  some  people  are  pleased  to  puff  smoke  —  a 
most  empty  fancy  —  being  set  crosswise,  served  the 
scenic  bishop  to  confirm  the  rites  of  consecration. 
Now,  who  would  believe  that  the  sign  of  the  cross  — 
that  most  precious  pledge  of  our  redemption  —  was 
held  up  to  mockery? 

^'Bnd  February,  1699. —  The  representatives  as 
well  as  the  magnates  of  Muscovy,  by  invitation  in 
the  name  of  his  Majesty  the  Czar,  went  to  a  banquet 
of  regal  magnificence  and  most  sumptuous  festivities 
to  last  two  days,  in  the  new  palace  which  was  dedi- 
cated with  yesterday's  rites  to  Bacchus.  Prince 
Szeremetow,  as  a  Knight  of  Malta,  with  the  cross  of 
the  order  on  his  breast,  imitated  most  happily  the 
German  manners,  and  wore  the  German  dress ;  by 
which,  though  he  found  favor  with  his  prince,  and 
was  held  in  special  honor,  he  won  the  envy  of  the 
Boyars,  who  feared  that  he  would,  by  help  of  his 
Majesty's  favor,  work  his  way  up  to  great  and 
eminent  power.  It  is  in  the  nature  of  mortals  to  be- 
hold with  evil  eye  the  recent  good  fortune  of  any- 
body, and  they  are  never  more  inclined  to  carp  than 


128   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

when  they  see  any  person  in  the  saddle.  The  Czar 
perceiving  some  of  his  military  officers  hankering 
after  new  fashions,  wearing  very  loose  coats,  cut  off 
the  cuffs  that  hung  down  too  low,  and  thus  addressed 
them :  "  See,  these  things  are  in  your  way ;  you  are 
safe  nowhere  with  them ;  at  one  moment  you  upset 
a  glass ;  then  you  forgetfully  dip  them  in  the  sauce ; 
get  gaiters  made  of  them." 

The  Russians  call  the  week  that  precedes  the 
Lenten  fast,  Maslaniza,'^  because  the  use  of  flesh  is 
forbidden,  but  butter  is  allowed  during  those  days. 
With  more  truth  would  I  call  them  Bacchanalia,  for 
they  give  themselves  up  to  debauchery  the  whole 
time.  Then  they  have  no  shame  of  lust,  no  reverence 
of  God,  and  most  mischievous  licentiousness  is  the 
order  of  the  day ;  as  though  crimes  committed  at 
that  time  were  not  cognizable  by  any  judge  or  any 
fair  law.  Such  is  the  confidence  of  the  robbers,  that 
you  can  hardly  hear  of  anything  else  but  manslaugh- 
ter and  funerals.  There  are,  indeed,  guards  posted 
at  certain  points  to  prevent  such  mischief;  but  no 
precaution,  no  fear,  can  quell  the  insolent,  and  they 
are  all  sharers  of  the  general  vice.  Several  patri- 
archs gave  themselves  great  pains  to  abolish  this 
corrupting  custom,  but  all  that  they  were  able  to 
effect  was,  to  diminish  the  duration  of  this  direful 
custom  to  eight  days  instead  of  fourteen,  over  which 
it  formerly  extended,  so  that  by  shortening  the  in- 
7  From  mazlo,  butter. 


A  WINTER  IN  MOSCOW  129 

famy  which  inveterate  abuse  prevented  being  wholly 
cured,  there  might  at  least  be  less  wounds  left  after 
it. 

^3rd  February,  1699. —  The  festivities  went  on 
till  to-da}',  nor  were  the  guests  allowed  to  go  home 
to  sleep ;  certain  chambers  and  hours  of  sleep  were 
appointed  for  the  representatives,  after  which  the 
guards  were  changed,  and  they  must  join  in  the 
dancing  and  in  applauding  the  other  dancers. 

As  one  of  the  ministers  was  commending  the  fav- 
orite Alexander,  that  his  jMajesty  the  Czar  might 
raise  him  to  the  equestrian  order,  creating  him  Stol- 
nock,  the  answer  is  reported  to  have  been:  "Al- 
ready without  that  he  takes  undue  honors  to  him- 
self: it  is  better  to  lessen  ambition  than  to  add  to 
it." 

^8th  February,  1699. —  Near  the  Kremlin,  in  two 
places,  36  rebels,  and  in  Bebraschenstko  150,  suffered 
the  penalty  of  death. 

The  hours  of  evening  were  adorned  with  pleasantcr 
sports,  and  royally  splendid,  for  there  was  a  hand- 
some display  of  fireworks  to  gratify  the  sight.  In 
consequence  of  which  the  representatives  and  the 
Muscovite  nobilit}^  went  by  invitation  to  the  Lefort 
Palace,  from  which  there  was  an  excellent  view  of 
the  devices  of  the  fireworks.  The  Czarewicz  and  the 
Czar's  favorite  sister  Nathalia  witnessed  the  playful 
fires  from  the  same  house,  but  from  another  apart- 
ment.    For    it    is    against    the    national    usage    for 


130  COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

young  princes  to  appear  much  in  public,  on  the 
grounds  that  they  are  more  respected  at  a  distance, 
wliich  I  agree  is  true  in  cases  where  the  people  revere 
their  sovereign  through  dread,  and  not  out  of  love. 
Seclusion  like  this  may  indeed  render  the  sovereign 
more  to  be  dreaded,  but  certainly  can  never  make 
him  more  lovable. 


IX 

DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS 

1st  March,  1699. —  The  Brandenburgh  Envoy 
was  conducted  in  state  to  an  audience  of  leave-tak- 
ing. He  rode  with  a  Pristaw,  in  a  carriage  of  the 
Czar's,  drawn  by  six  white  horses.  The  officials 
were  on  horseback.  Twelve  grooms  from  the  Czar's 
stables  swelled  the  number  of  the  attendants,  and  the 
audience  took  place  in  the  Lefort  Palace,  often  be- 
forementioned.  At  the  same  time  Mr.  de  Zadora 
Kesielski,  hitherto  Marshal  of  the  mission,  was  ac- 
credited and  accepted  as  Resident,  being  substituted 
instead  of  the  Envoy,  and  the  Czar  commanded  him 
to  stay  for  dinner,  which  was  splendid,  and  at  which 
the  envoys  of  foreign  princes  and  the  principal 
Boyars  were  also  present.  After  dinner  was  over, 
Dumnoi  Moseiwicz,  who  was  mimic  Patriarch  when 
the  Czar  wished,  began  giving  toasts.  He  that 
drank  had  on  bended  knee  for  mockery  to  revere  the 
sham  ecclesiastical  dignitary,  and  beg  the  favor  of 
his  benediction,  which  he  gave  with  two  tobacco 
pipes,  set  in  the  shape  of  a  cross.  He  alone,  of  all 
the  Envoys,^  withdrew  furtively  who  held  the  sacred 

1 1,  e.  the  Austrian  Ambassador. 
131 


132      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

sign  of  our  Christian  faith  too  holy  to  approve  of 
such  jests.  The  same  Prelate  added  to  the  decency 
of  the  dancing  by  opening  it  with  pontificials  and 
crozier.  The  inner  apartment,  next  to  the  room  in 
which  the  festivities  were  going  on,  was  again  oc- 
cupied by  the  Czarewicz  and  the  Czar's  sister 
Nathalia;  thence  they  saw  the  dancing  and  all  the 
gay  tumult,  the  curtains  with  which  the  place  was 
most  handsomely  decorated  being  drawn  a  little  and 
they  were  only  seen  through  a  lattice  by  the  guests. 
The  natural  beauty  of  the  Czarewicz  was  wonder- 
fully shown  off  by  his  civilized  German  dress  and 
powdered  wig.  Nathalia  was  escorted  by  the  crcme 
of  the  married  ladies.  This  day,  too,  beheld  a  great 
departure  from  Russian  manners,  which  up  to  this 
forbade  the  female  sex  from  appearing  at  public  as- 
semblies of  men,  and  from  festive  gayeties,  for  some 
were  not  only  allowed  to  be  at  the  dinner,  but  also 
at  the  dancing  afterwards. 

2nd  March,  1699. —  The  silence  and  modesty  of 
this  week  is  as  remarkable  as  last  week's  tumult  and 
fury,  be  it  repentance  for  all  the  expense,  or  remorse 
for  all  the  crime;  unless  perhaps  it  be  that  the  festi- 
val holiness  of  the  season  may  have  violently  reined 
in  to  such  outward  seeming  of  orderliness,  men  that 
were  just  now  loose  and  audacious  in  every  lust  and 
every  criminal  license.  Neither  shops  nor  markets 
were  open,  the  courts  did  not  sit,  the  judges  had 
nothing  to  do ;  it  is  neither  allowed  to  eat  fish  nor 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  133 

linseed  oil ;  with  most  strict  fast  they  mortify  the 
flesh  on  dry  bread  and  fruits  of  the  earth  —  such  an 
unexpected  metamorphosis,  certes,  that  one  hardly 
can  believe  one's  eyes. 

11th  March,  1699. —  They  began  to  bury  the 
corpses  of  the  dead  criminals.  Horrible  spectacle, 
and  unknown,  and  I  may  say  an  abomination  to  more 
civilized  nations.  Several  corpses  lay  huddled  to- 
gether in  the  carts,  many  half  naked,  and  all  hig- 
gledy-piggledy. Like  slaughtered  sheep  to  the 
market,  they  were  brought  to  the  sepulchral  pits. 

General  Lefort  having  quite  lost  the  use  of  his 
senses,  raved  and  shouted,  now  for  music,  now  for 
wine.  When  mention  was  made  of  calling  for  the 
pastor,  growing  hotter  in  his  madness,  he  allowed 
nobody  to  come  near  him. 

12th  March,  1699. —  General  and  Admiral  Lefort 
died  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  After  his  death 
many  and  incongruous  rumors  were  spread  about. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  any  of  them  be  true.  When 
Stumpf,  the  Protestant  pastor,  was  admitted  to  see 
him,  and  was  admonishing  him  to  be  converted  to 
God,  they  say  he  only  told  him,  "  Not  to  talk  much." 
To  his  wife,  who  in  his  last  moments  asked  his  pardon 
for  her  past  faults,  if  she  had  committed  any,  he 
blandly  replied :  "  I  never  had  anything  to  reproach 
thee  with ;  I  always  honored  and  loved  thee  " ;  and 
without  saying  more,  he  shook  his  head  several  times, 
by  which  they  believe  he  meant  to  allude  to  a  certain 


134  COURT  or  PETER  THE  GREAT 

other  connection.  He  commended,  in  the  first  place, 
his  domestics  and  their  services,  desiring  that  their 
wages  should  be  paid  in  full.  Some  days  before  his 
death,  when  he  was  sleeping  at  another  person's 
house,  where  he  had  an  amor,  a  frightful  row  was 
heard  at  his  own  house  in  his  usual  bedroom.  The 
wife  was  horror-stricken,  and  supposing  her  hus- 
band might  have  changed  his  mind  and  come  home 
in  a  great  fury,  she  sent  to  ascertain  what  was  the 
case:  and  the  persons  sent  came  back  again,  asseverat- 
ing that  they  could  see  nobody  in  that  room. 
Nevertheless  the  uproar  went  on,  and  if  the  wife's 
assertion  may  be  credited,  next  morning  all  the 
chairs,  tables,  and  seats  were  found,  horrible  to  be- 
hold, lying  scattered  topsy-turvey,  all  about;  be- 
sides which,  deep  groans  were  constantly  heard  all 
through  the  night.  A  messenger  was  immediately 
dispatched  to  Veroneje,  to  acquaint  the  Czar  that 
General  Lefort  had  departed  this  life.  In  the  in- 
terim, Boyar  Golowin  had  everything  sealed  up,  and 
had  given  the  keys  to  the  kinsman  of  the  deceased. 
IJf.  March,  1699. —  A  very  rich  shop,  belonging 
to  a  certain  merchant,  was  confiscated,  for  punish- 
ment of  I  know  not  what  crime.  The  merchant  im- 
mediately set  eagerly  to  work  to  purchase  the 
patronage  of  the  notorious  Alexander  ^  with  a  bribe 
of  thousand  roubles.  The  latter,  greedy  of  such  a 
sum,  labored  in  his  turn  to  gain  over  him  who  then 
2  See  A  ppendix. 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  135 

presided  over  the  Treasury.  But  when  he  found  that 
the  Treasurer  was  more  faithful  than  himself,  and 
adverse  to  his  proposal,  inasmuch  as  he  deemed  it 
wrong  to  commit  a  fraud  upon  the  Sovereign's  pub- 
lic Treasury  to  enrich  a  private  individual,  the  fav- 
orite had  the  audacity  even  to  threaten  him  that  if 
he  made  any  further  opposition  he  would  not  want 
for  an  occasion  to  revenge  his  contempt  and  neglect. 

General  Lefort  (as  they  have  asseverated)  left 
nothing  to  excite  the  envy  of  his  people  against  him- 
self or  his  heirs.  Nay,  his  kinsman  prostrate  upon 
the  ground  before  Prince  Galizin,  protested  that  he 
had  not  the  means  of  buying  the  usual  mourning  suit 
for  himself. 

21st  March,  1699. —  As  all  the  representatives 
were  invited  to  the  funeral  of  the  late  General  Lefort, 
they  all  appeared  in  mourning.  Eight  in  the  morn- 
ing was  the  hour  appointed  for  carrying  out  the 
body.  But  before  everybody  had  arrived  and  every- 
thing was  ready,  the  sun  that  looked  down  on  the 
sad  scene  had  risen  nearly  to  the  meridian.  Mean- 
time, after  the  manner  of  the  Slowoda  folk,  the  tables 
were  laid  out,  groaning  under  viands,  and  drinking 
cups  in  long  array,  and  bowls  mantling  with  every 
description  of  wine.  Mulled  wine  was  served  to  those 
who  preferred  it.  The  Russians  —  for  everybody 
of  any  rank  or  office  had  by  the  Czar's  orders  to  be 
present  —  sat  at  table,  ravenously  devouring  the 
viands,   which   were    all   cold.     There   was    a   great 


136   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

variety  of  fish,  cheese,  butter,  caviare,  and  so  forth. 

Prince  Szeremetow,  refined  by  much  travel,  and 
dressed  in  the  German  fashion,  wearing  his  Cross  of 
Malta  pendant  at  his  breast,  thought  it  beneath  his 
propriety  to  give  himself  up  to  voracity  along  with 
the  rest.  The  Czar  coming  in,  showed  many  tokens 
of  grief:  fixed  sorrow  was  in  his  face.  To  the  repre- 
sentatives who  paid  their  becoming  court,  bowing  to 
the  ground  according  to  custom,  the  monarch  replied 
with  exquisite  politeness.  When  Leo  Kirilowicz  left 
his  seat,  and  hastened  to  meet  the  Czar,  he  received 
indeed  his  salutation  graciously,  but  remained  absent 
without  answering  for  a  little  while,  until  recollect- 
ing himself  he  bent  to  embrace  him.  When  the 
moment  for  removing  the  body  came,  the  grief  and 
former  affection  of  the  Czar  and  some  others  was 
■manifest  to  everybody,  for  the  Czar  shed  tears  most 
abundantly,  and  in  the  sight  of  all  the  vast  crowd  of 
people  who  were  assembled  on  account  of  the  solemn 
ceremony,  he  gave  the  last  kiss  to  the  corpse. 

Thus  the  body  was  conducted  to  the  Reformed 
Church,  where  Pastor  Stumpf  preached  a  short  ser- 
mon. On  leaving  the  temple  the  Boyars  and  the 
rest  of  their  countrymen  disturbed  the  order  of  the 
procession,  forcing  their  way  with  inept  arrogance 
up  to  the  very  body.  The  Envoys  pretending,  how- 
ever, to  take  no  notice  of  the  haughty  pretensions 
that  led  to  tliis  violent  act,  suffered  every  one  of  the 
Muscovites  to  go  on  before  them,  even  those  whose 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  137 

humble  lot  and  condition  placed  them  out  of  the  con- 
test which  the  others  perhaps  had  plotted  for  pre- 
cedency. And  the  Envoys  went  on  to  where  the 
nearest  relation  of  the  deceased  had  taken  his  place, 
as  in  funerals  it  is  always  reckoned  the  chief  honor 
to  walk  beside  him.  As  they  came  to  the  cemetery 
where  the  deceased  was  to  be  buried,  the  Czar  no- 
ticed that  the  order  was  changed;  that  his  subjects, 
who  previously  had  followed  the  Envoys,  now  pre- 
ceded them ;  therefore  he  called  young  Lefort  to  him 
and  inquired :  "  Who  disturbed  the  order :  why 
those  followed  that  just  now  went  foremost?  "  And 
as  he  remained  prostrate  without  giving  any  answer 
about  the  cause,  the  Czar  commanded  him  to  speak 
out  what  was  the  case :  and  when  he  said  that  it  was 
the  Russians  that  had  violently  inverted  the  order, 
the  Czar  greatly  in  wrath,  nevertheless  said  nothing 
except:     "They  are  dogs,  not  my  Boyars." 

Szeremetow,  on  the  contrary  —  and  to  his  pru- 
dence it  may  be  attributed  —  still  continued  to  ac- 
company the  Envoys,  although  all  the  Russian's  had 
gone  on  before.  In  the  cemetery  itself  and  on  the 
highway  there  were  cannon  drawn  up,  which  shook 
the  air  with  a  triple  discharge,  and  each  regiment 
also  delivered  a  triple  volley  of  musketry.  One  of 
the  artillery-men,  remaining  stupidly  before  the  can- 
non's mouth,  had  his  head  carried  off  by  the  shot. 
The  Czar  went  back  with  the  troops  to  the  house  of 
Lefort,  whither  all  who  had  accompanied  the  funeral 


138   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

followed  lilm.  Everybody  that  had  attended  in 
mourning  was  presented  with  a  gold  ring,  on  which 
was  engraved  the  date  of  the  death,  and  a  death's 
head.  The  Czar,  having  gone  out  for  a  moment,  all 
the  Boyars  were  hastening  with  anxious  speed  to  go 
home.  They  had  already  gone  down  some  steps, 
when  meeting  the  Czar  returning  face  to  face,  they 
came  back  into  the  room.  This  haste  of  the  Boyars 
to  get  away  gave  rise  to  a  suspicion  that  they  were 
glad  of  the  death,  and  it  put  the  Czar  in  such  a 
passion  that  he  wrathfully  addressed  them  in  the 
following  terms :  — "  Ho  !  you  are  made  merry  at  his 
death!  It  is  a  grand  victory  for  you  that  he  is 
dead.  Why  can't  you  all  wait.''  I  suppose,  be- 
cause the  greatness  of  your  joy  will  not  allow  you 
to  keep  up  this  forced  appearance,  and  the  feigned 
sorrow  of  your  faces." 

^3rd  March,  1699. —  As  the  Czar  was  deliberating 
to  whom  he  should  confide  the  Prefecture,  one  of  the 
Boyars  said  to  him  that  it  was  an  office  which  might 
be  imposed  upon  Boris  Petrowicz  Szeremetow.  Upon 
which  the  Czar  gave  him  a  cuff,  as  if  he  were  an 
evil  adviser ;  and  roared  passionately  at  him :  "  So, 
you  too  are  hankering  after  his  friendship." 

In  the  afternoon  to-day,  the  Czar  rode  in  a  car- 
riage through  Slowoda,  bade  adieu  to  all  whom  he 
condescended  to  grace  with  his  favor,  and  in  the 
evening  left  Moscow  for  Veroneje. 

It  is  the  talk  of  the  town,  that  about  twelve  Rus- 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  139 

sians  went  in  the  stillness  of  the  night  to  the  cemetery 
where  they  knew  General  Lefort  was  buried,  and,  in 
the  hope  of  a  rich  boot}',  would  have  violated  the 
grave,  had  not  the  neighbors  awoke  with  the  noise 
they  made  talking,  and  hurrying  to  see  this  un- 
paralleled crime,  deterred  the  wicked  wretches  from 
their  nefarious  purpose. 

^7th  March,  1699. —  A  principal  race  among  the 
Tartars  is  that  of  the  Calmucks,  who  are  not  tribu- 
tary to  the  Czar,  but  nevertheless  acknowledge  his 
suzerainty,  and  yield  services  more  in  the  waj^  of 
allies  than  as  subjects, —  services  which  are  pur- 
chased with  annual  presents.  An  Envoy  from  them 
came  to-day,  with  a  train  of  only  six  persons.  Un- 
der the  name  of  an  Ambassador,  he  drove  a  more 
profitable  trade.  Tea  leaf,  starry  anise,  Chinese 
tobacco,  fine  tissues  and  several  other  things  in  which 
Cliina  is  known  to  abound,  were  his  most  precious 
merchandise.  There  were  still  some  empty  rooms 
remaining,  that  are  built  over  the  stables  of  Ambas- 
sadorial P^ace,  tv>o  of  which  were  appointed  for  his 
lodging.  Although  the  barbarian  knew  little  or 
nothing  of  those  manners  and  honorable  customs,  by 
the  grandeur  and  stately  ceremonial  of  which  it  is 
the  privilege  of  Ambassadors  to  captivate  the  rever- 
ance  of  foreign  nations ;  nevertheless,  before  he  would 
go  into  those  rooms,  he  inquired  whether  other  En- 
voys had  lodged  there  before.  He  deserves  credit, 
at  least  for  having  tried  to  guard  against  anything 


140   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

prejudicial.  The  Muscovites  had  little  difficulty  in 
imposing  upon  him ;  asserting  that  the  Ambassadors 
of  the  greatest  princes  of  Europe  had  lodged  in 
those  strait  limits.  He  ate  mostly  mare's  flesh,  and 
was  allowed,  at  the  outside,  thirty  kopeks^  a  day 
for  the  usual  free  maintenance.  But,  humbugged 
by  the  persuasions  of  the  Muscovites,  he  thought 
himself  most  splendidly  treated. 

^9tli  March,  1699. — 'Seventy  Italians,  whom  the 
Muscovites  had  brought  from  Venice,  were  discharged 
without  payment  of  their  expenses.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  many  inconveniences  through  which  they  had 
to  retrace  their  long  journey,  none  got  more  than 
ten  roubles,  others  nine,  and  others  only  eight.  Ex- 
asperated at  this  injustice,  they  took  the  libert}'  of 
saying  direful  things  of  the  whole  Muscovite  race. 

31st  March,  1699. —  All  the  Boyars,  by  little  and 
little,  are  going  off  to  Veroneje.  Tzarkaski,  a 
prince  of  advanced  years,  remains  as  Prefect  of  the 
City,  an  office  which  was  entrusted  to  him,  though 
there  were  others  who  would  fain  have  arrogated 
that  dignity  to  themselves,  under  pretext  that  the 
Czar  had  conferred  it  upon  them.  Eor  the  Czar, 
when  bidding  farewell  at  his  departure,  recommended 
the  affairs  of  Moscow  to  several  and  spoke  to  differ- 
ent persons  in  this  manner :  "  Meantime  I  commit 
all  my  affairs  to  your  loyalty.'*     I  opine  it  was  a 

3  About    fifteen    cents.     The    buying    power    of    money    was 
greater  at  that  time,  of  course. 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  141 

maxim  with  the  Czar, —  and  a  maxim  not  to  be  con- 
temned,—  to  raise  up  many  to  great  hope,  in  order 
that  the  possession  may  be  envied  to  an}'  one,  and 
that  by  their  constant  dissensions  they  may  be  left 
without  means  of  abusing  absolute  power,  or  of  giv- 
ing grounds  for  regret  at  such  authority  being  in- 
trusted, by  seizing  on  it  to  act  against  their  Sove- 
reign. 

1st  April,  1699. —  Some  hordes  of  Crim-Tartars 
penetrated  in  a  headlong  swoop  to  the  very  camp  at 
Azow.  None  dared  resist  the  unexpected  peril;  fear 
filled  the  country  far  and  wide  around,  and  this  very 
panic  terror  gave  increased  force  and  daring  to  the 
enemy.  The  farms  depopulated,  the  fields  desolate, 
the  hamlets  in  ashes,  the  colonies  widowed  of  their 
inhabitants,  are  standing  monuments  of  irreparable 
damage,  and  vestiges  of  the  unheard-of  cruelty  that 
was  exercised.  The  plundering  hurricane  swept 
along  with  it  numbers  of  officers,  still  more  common 
soldiers,  and  an  almost  incredible  multitude  of  serfs, 
into  the  harshest  slavery. 

2nd,  3rd  April,  1699. —  The  Greek  and  Russian 
Church  venerates  the  images  of  Saints  with  no  less 
devotion  than  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  justly  places 
much  hope  and  confidence  in  their  suffrages ;  not  giv- 
ing them  that  supreme  worship  of  latria,  wliich  be- 
longs to  the  Majesty  of  the  Almighty  Creator  of 
all  that  exists,  but  that  far  different  worship  which 
we  are  to  pay  to  them  as  friends  of  God,  and  inter- 


142   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

cessors  for  us.  So  that  that  signal  honor  which  the 
Russians  unanimously  pay  to  Saints  and  their  images 
is  not  to  he  censured.  It  is  a  more  knotty  question 
whether  particular  practices  which  they  use  in  honor 
of  divers  Sairits  be  not  superstitious ;  as,  for  ex- 
ample, when  the  sick,  the  helpless,  and  those  Avhich 
are  beyond  the  aid  of  human  skill,  fly  for  refuge  to 
images,  which  are  placed  upon  their  heads  with 
sacerdotal  rites.  But  when  one  examines  more 
closely  into  the  reason  why  the  cloak  that  Elias  left 
after  him  wrought  miracles,  it  will  at  once  appear 
that  the  finger  of  God's  right  hand,  to  whom  as  the 
ultimate  source  all  our  piety,  all  worship,  and  ven- 
eration tend,  works  wonderful  things  in  his  works  in 
a  wonderful  manner.  Whence  I  hold  it  not  to  be 
omitted  that  General-in-Cliief  Schachin  was  present 
to-day  at  a  solemn  procession  in  which  an  image  was 
carried  to  the  house  of  a  sick  person,  to  the  very 
great  edification  of  many  people. 

5th  April,  1699. —  The  Lord  Envoy,  conducted 
by  a  certain  German  Colonel,  went  over  the  Czar's 
castle  of  the  Kremlin.  In  the  hall  where  audience  is 
usually  given  to  ambassadors,  a  throne  of  silver 
gilt,  embellished  with  a  number  of  precious  stones, 
stands  conspicuous,  worthy  of  Sovereign  jNIajesty. 
We  did  not  see  the  rest  of  the  regalia ;  for,  as  the 
Czar  has  hitherto  refused  to  dwell  in  this  castle,  they 
are  kept  locked  up  in  chests.  On  the  side  of  the 
castle   from   wliich   a   charming  view   opens   on    the 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  143 

river  Neglina,  above  the  second  story,  there  is  a 
fair  precinct  of  garden,  supported  upon  masonry: 
it  is  quite  melancholy  to  see  how  it  lies  neglected, 
going  to  ruin  on  account  of  human  sloth.  We  were 
also  gratified  with  a  sight  of  the  room  from  which 
Princess  Sophia,  in  the  time  of  the  Muscovite 
triumvirate,  under  the  usurping  sway  of  the  prime 
minister,  Basil  Galizin,  could  observe  through  a  lat- 
tice all  the  proposals  of  the  envoys  and  the  answers 
of  the  ministers.  Next  this,  is  a  magnificently 
adorned  apartment,  set  apart  for  the  conferences  of 
ambassadors.  There  are  also  two  exceedingly  neat 
chapels,  one  for  summer  and  the  other  for  winter. 
In  the  summer  chapel  they  venerate  a  miraculous 
image  of  the  Mother  of  God,  wliich  was  brought  from 
Smolensko.  In  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  all  the  Czars  are  buried 
and  entombed.  They  keep  the  pictures  of  those 
whose  sanctity  of  life  procured  them  the  honor  of 
miracles.  That  cause  was  alleged  on  an  inquiry  why 
Ivan  Basilowicz,  the  great  tyrant  of  Muscovy,  was 
the  only  one  of  whom  there  was  no  portrait.  Be- 
sides a  decollation  of  Saint  John,  they  show  another 
picture  of  the  Mother  of  God,  which  cost  17,000 
roubles.  The  grandfather,  father,  and  elder  brother 
of  the  now  reigning  Czar  are  laid  together  in  front 
of  the  same  altar,  enclosed  in  stone  sarcophagi. 
This  church  has  nine  towers,  all  gilt,  from  the  sum- 
mits of  which  as  many  crosses  glitter  with  the  same 


144   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

metal  on  high;  that  upon  the  highest  tower  is  said 
to  be  cast  entirely  of  pure  gold.  In  a  church  close 
by,  called  Sabora,  all  the  Patriarchs  and  Metropo- 
lites  that  are  reckoned  among  the  Saints  are  buried. 
Among  the  rest,  they  revere  one  named  lona.  In 
the  same  church  there  is  a  particle  of  our  Savior's 
garment  preserved ;  and  we  kissed  a  still  entire  arm 
of  St.  AndreAV.  The  Czar's  seat  in  that  Church  is 
marvelously  wrought  and  exceedingly  ancient.  It 
belonged  to  the  Princes  of  Kiow,*  and  was  thence 
brought  hither.  Near  it  rises  the  throne  of  the 
Patriarch,  marvelously  adorned  with  numberless 
paintings.  The  sedilia  for  the  princess,  in  another 
part  of  the  church,  are  covered  with  very  rich  tap- 
estries and  red  silk. 

6tli  April,  1699. —  Oats  and  provisions  were  very 
dear  now  in  Moscow,  and  they  alleged  that  it  arose 
from  the  circumstance  that  when  the  corpses  of 
those  that  were  lately  executed  were  to  be  carted  to 
the  pits  which  were  dug  for  them  outside  the  city, 
the  ferocious  soldiers,  by  the  Czar's  command,  had 
compelled  the  Sbosecks,  that  is  the  serfs,  to  throw 
down  the  burdens  off  their  carts  and  load  them  with 
dead  bodies,  or  to  leave  them  and  go  dig  pits,  whilst 
the  soldiers  with  a  high  hand  kept  for  themselves  the 
wheat,  hay,  oats,  and  whatever  else  the  serfs  were 
carting  in,  not  only  with  impunity,  but  as  a  matter 
of  right.  Deterred  by  this  loss,  the  peasants 
4  Kiev  on  the  Dnieper. 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  145 

brought  nothing  more  into  town,  fearing  lest  what 
they  meant  for  market  should  fall  a  prey  and  booty 
to  the  licentious  rapacit}^  of  the  soldiers. 

8th,  9th  April,  1699. —  A  great  fire  broke  out 
about  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  not  far  from  the 
Palace  of  the  Ambassadors,  behind  the  palace  of  Gen- 
eral-in-Chief Schachin.  Boyar  Soltikow  and  Kncs 
Michalowicz  Tzerkasky  met  with  great  loss ;  their 
own  palaces  and  several  wooden  houses  round  about 
being  reduced  to  ashes  in  the  space  of  four  hours. 
There  was  no  water  poured  on  to  extinguish  the 
flames,  the  only  security  was  in  demolishing  some 
houses.  Pieces  of  sheet  lead  were  to  be  seen  in  num- 
bers with  the  distinguishing  marks  of  the  regiments : 
but  there  were  few  men  to  give  a  helping  hand ;  and 
those  that  were  trying  to  destroy  the  roofs  were  so 
scorched  by  the  sudden  approaches  of  the  flames 
when  they  least  expected  it,  as  to  put  a  stop  to  fur- 
ther eff"orts.  They  carried  out  a  miraculous  image 
of  the  Mother  of  God  in  order  that  superior  powers 
might  stay  the  flames.  The  same  day  a  house  in 
the  German  Slowoda  was  destroyed  by  fire. 

23rd  April,  1699.— The  Lord  Envoy  and  one  of 
his  friends  visited  Colonel  Gordon,  who  was  on  guard 
in  the  Kremlin  Castle.  There  was  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal persons  of  the  Muscovite  nobilit}^  named  Al- 
mazow,  under  arrest  in  his  quarters.  Feodor 
MadA^eowicz  Aprazen  is  married  to  his  sister,  and 
Aparazen's  sister  is  the  Dowager  of  the  Czar  who 


146      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

died  about  seventeen  years  ago.  This  Almazow's 
household  were  taking  too  great  freedom  in  sporting 
with  Easter  eggs,  and  perhaps  were  more  than  usu- 
ally uproarious.  They  did  not  stop  when  they  were 
forbidden  by  the  watch,  and  maintained,  that  at  the 
Easter  season  custom  warranted  them.  However, 
the  night  watch  was  not  of  the  same  opinion,  and 
gave  them  warning  to  be  off,  unless  they  preferred 
being  cudgelled  away.  The  others,  exasperated,  be- 
gan brawling,  and  at  length  words  came  to  blows. 
Help  was  sent  to  the  watch,  but  being  insufficient, 
was  driven  away  by  the  infuriated  domestics.  The 
matter  being  reported  to  Prince  Michael  Lehugowicz 
Tzerkaski,  orders  were  sent  to  the  Chancellor  to  see 
that  Almazow's  guilty  servants  be  taken  into  cus- 
tody, and  to  send  a  scribe  to  his  house  with  a  force 
of  fifteen  soldiers.  The  scribe  either  by  a  mistake 
of  his  own,  or  by  a  spiteful  order  of  the  Chancellor, 
seized  not  the  servants,  but  their  master,  who  was 
ignorant  of  the  whole  affair,  and  would  have  dragged 
him  off  to  a  most  villainous  dungeon,  if  Colonel  Gor- 
don, who  had  got  notice  from  the  Dowager  Czarine, 
Almazow's  kinswoman,  had  not  wrested  him  from  the 
reluctant  hands  of  the  soldiers  and  scribe,  and  as- 
signed him  his  own  quarters  as  his  place  of  arrest. 
Certainly  soldiers  in  Muscovy  are  in  the  habit  of 
tormenting  prisoners  in  every  way  at  their  fancy, 
without  respect  of  persons  or  the  matter  of  which 
they  are  accused,  bruising  them  with  their  muskets, 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  147 

with  sticlcs,  and  thrusting  them  into  the  most  beastly 
holes  —  especially  the  opulent,  to  whom  they  un- 
blushingly  say,  that  they  will  not  cease  from  beating 
them  until  they  have  paid  a  certain  sum.  Let  a 
prisoner  go  willingly  or  unwillingly  to  jail,  he  is 
beaten  all  the  same.  Almazow,  a  strikingly  fine 
young  fellow,  being  liberated  from  arrest  while  I 
was  looking  on,  went  to  return  thanks  to  the  Czarine. 

Srd  May,  1699. —  The  Czar  claims  the  monopoly 
of  the  sale  of  brand3\  Some  of  the  lower  orders  — 
those  called  Jemskoi  —  were  offering  it  for  sale  in 
the  private  houses,  contrary  to  the  express  inhibition 
of  the  Czar.  So  the  Treasurer,  Peter  Ivanowicz 
Prosorowski,  wanting  to  chastise  them,  had  fifty 
soldiers  at  his  orders  that  he  had  asked  of  General 
Gordon.  Along  with  these  he  sent  a  scribe,  armed 
with  a  warrant  to  seize  as  contraband  and  bring  to 
the  Czar's  stores  all  the  brandy  they  could  find  in 
such  places.  But  when  they  attempted  to  put  the 
warrant  in  execution,  a  mob  of  Jemskoi  assembled; 
and,  repelling  force  by  force,  killed  three  soldiers 
by  running  them  through,  and  wounded  several. 
The  Jemskoi,  moreover,  threatened  fiercer  vengeance 
if  such  another  seizure  should  be  attempted.  The 
daring  of  this  conduct  is  such,  that  it  keeps  the 
authorities  of  the  city  in  great  anxiety  whether  it 
is  better  to  employ  force  or  dissemble. 

5th  May,  1699. —  When  one  of  the  footmen  be- 
longing to  the  Danish  Envoy  was  going  to  Sboseck, 


148      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

a  Russian  shouted  an  approbrious  name  at  him.  The 
footman  at  once  sprang  from  his  horse  to  strike  the 
fellow  for  the  insult :  for  the  word  was  a  contumelious 
one  that  they  address  to  the  Germans,  But  the 
Russian  ran  away,  and  called  up  the  Guard,  saying 
that  the  German  was  on  the  point  of  murdering  him, 
and  that  he  was  a  robber.  The  soldiers  roused  by 
this  story  ran  up,  arrested  the  footman,  and  brought 
him  as  a  robber  to  the  Pricassa ;  where,  his  innocence 
being  manifest,  he  was,  on  payment  of  one  griffna, 
allowed  to  return  home. 

Everything  is  in  confusion  in  Muscovy.  The 
Czar,  at  leaving,  commended  the  safe  keeping  and 
prefecture  of  the  city  to  Knes  Tzerkaski.  To  Gor- 
don he  said :  "  To  thee,  meanwhile,  I  commit  every- 
thing: everything  is  entrusted  to  your  hands  and 
your  loyalty."  But  some  scribe  arrogates  to  him- 
self the  supreme  military  direction  which  belonged 
to  Knes  Romadnowski,  pretending  that  it  devolved 
upon  him  at  the  departure  of  the  latter,  and  con- 
sequently that  cognizance  of  everything  is  of  his 
competency. 

15tli  June  1699. —  When  the  Czar  was  leaving 
Veroneje  for  Azow,  and  was  already  on  board,  that 
Alexander,^  who  is  so  conspicuous  at  court  through 
the  Czar's  graces,  was  whispering  something  in  his 
ear,  which  put  the  Czar  in  a  sudden  passion,  and  he 
inflicted  some  boxes  on  his  importunate  monitor,  so 

c  See  Appendix. 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  149 

that  he  lay  stretched  at  full  length,  quite  like  a  dying 
man  at  the  feet  of  irate  Majesty. 

The  mutiny  of  the  garrison  of  Azow  gained 
strength  with  its  duration.  The  mutineers  demand 
an  oath  from  him  whom  they  should  revere  as  the 
arbiter  of  life  and  death.  But  what  have  treason- 
able subjects,  after  trampling  on  the  authority  of 
their  prince,  ever  left  whole  untouched,  and  undared? 
It  is  a  solace  to  those  whose  unholy  disobedience  has 
thus  lost  them,  to  leave  nothing  untried,  that  daring 
can  suggest,  which  may  avail  them  to  conjure  the 
ruin  which  they  have  called  down  upon  themselves. 
Although  the  Czar  saw,  with  a  great  sense  of  grief, 
his  dignity  compromised  by  treason,  nevertheless, 
he  did  not  reject  the  condition  put  to  him,  nor  the 
oath  which  was  exacted  at  its  guarantee ;  lest,  by 
obstinately  upholding  His  Majesty,  he  should  open 
the  way  to  peril  of  worse  evils.  He  descended  to 
make  a  pact  with  his  subjects,  and,  repeating  the 
words  after  them,  bound  himself  by  his  royal  truth 
and  dignit}^  that  all  the  Strelitz  in  the  city  of  Azow 
should  go  unpunished.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether 
he  will  adhere  to  this  pledge  given  under  compulsion. 
For  what  is  extorted  wrongfully  from  princes  they 
often  requite  by  another  wrong,  nor  do  they  con- 
sider themselves  in  justice  bound  to  their  own  in- 
jury. 

lOth  May,  1699.— They  celebrated  to-day  with 
the   greatest   pomp,   the   festival   of   Saint-Nicholas, 


150   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

patron  of  Muscovy,  which  is  the  grand  Prasdnkk  ®  of 
the  Russians.  It  is  quite  shameful  —  they  think  it, 
in  fact,  unworthy  of  them,  not  to  reel  with  wine  or 
brandy  on  this  day,  for  the  greater  the  solemnity 
of  the  festival  the  more  correct  they  consider  it  to 
give  themselves  up  to  drunkenness  and  other  gratifi- 
cations. 

This  night,  as  the  Envoy  of  Denmark  came  back 
from  Veroneje,  when  he  arrived  at  the  gate,  a  dis- 
pute arose  about  money  which  the  soldiers  insisted 
upon  —  what  is  called  das  Sperr-Geld  ^ —  for  he  re- 
fused to  pay  for  the  soldiers  that  the  Czar  had  given 
him  as  an  escort. 

^Oth  May,  1699.— The  Envoy  of  Denmark  told 
among  other  stories  the  following.  That  two  Ger- 
man colonels  who  were  accused  by  a  Muscovite  of 
treason,  imprisoned  and  subjected  to  the  worst  tor- 
tures of  the  rack,  could  not  be  made  to  confess  the 
crime  which  the  informer  had  laid  to  their  charge. 
Meanwhile  the  Russian  had  repented  of  his  false  ac- 
cusation, and  with  the  same  effrontery  as  he  before 
had  accused  these  innocent  men,  he  made  known  to 
the  Czar  that  the  Germans  had  been  wrongfully  tor- 
tured, and  that  it  was  only  his  envy  that  made  him 
accuse  innocent  men  of  such  a  heinous  offense.  This 
atrocious  man's  malice  put  the  Czar  in  such  a  heat 

6  Holiday. 

7  Gate-money. 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  151 

of  indignation  that  he  struck  off  his  fateful  head,  as 
he  richly  deserved. 

The  soldiers  of  the  regiment  of  Bebraschentsko 
are  divided  among  the  ships.  They  say  that  the 
vessel  to  which  none  but  the  Czar  and  his  principal 
Boyars  put  a  hand,  is  unique,  and  the  handsomest 
of  his  Majesty's  fleet. 

^Ji-ih  May,  1699. —  The  Brandenburgh  resident, 
Timothy  de  Zadora  Kesielski,  had  gone  for  the  pur- 
pose of  speaking  to  Boyar  Leo  Kirilowicz  Nareskin. 
After  a  whole  hour's  patience,  the  Boyar  at  last  came 
into  the  antechamber,  where  he  knew  he  was  waited 
for.  When  he  looked  at  the  Resident,  as  if  he  won- 
dered at  his  being  there,  he  rudely  questioned  him 
with  this  haughty  address :  "  What  dost  thou 
want.f^  "  To  which  the  Resident  answered:  "  Thou 
knowest  that  I  have  not  come  to  beg  a  crust  of  bread 
from  thee:  if  thou  dost  not  consider  the  attention 
of  my  visit  an  honor  to  thee,  I  shall  dispense  myself 
in  future  of  that  trouble." 

The  unexpected  tartness  of  the  answer  struck  the 
Boyar  so  home,  that  in  a  harsh  and  contemptuous 
tone  he  was  beginning  to  taunt  the  Resident,  saying: 
"  What  durst  thou  say  to  me,  thou  petty  little  Cham- 
berlain? "  Upon  which  the  Resident,  with  no  less 
warmth  instantly  retorted:  "I  hold  myself  highly 
honored  in  being  a  Chamberlain  of  my  most  Serene 
Prince.     If  the  rank  I  hold  be  beneath  thy  ambition, 


152   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

he  that  sent  me  could  confer  a  higher  upon  me,  but 
it  would  be  difficult  for  him  to  confer  any  which  the 
impotency  of  your  stilted  mind  would  not  despise  as 
far  beneath  you." 

6th  June,  1699. —  To-day  being  the  feast  of 
Pentecost,  branches  and  foliage  of  trees  were  blessed 
by  the  Russian  priests ;  and  this  is  the  only  day  on 
which  they  pray  for  God's  aid  kneeling;  on  every 
other  festival  they  say  their  usual  prayers  standing 
erect.  They  account  for  it  by  sayingi  that  the 
Apostles  and  all  the  disciples  of  our  Redeemer  pros- 
trated themselves  upon  the  earth  at  the  time  of  the 
coming  of  the  Holy  Ghost  —  and  thence  they  took  a 
handle  to  bless  all  the  fruits  of  the  earth. 

8th,  9th  June,  1669.—  The  Lord  Envoy  Extraor- 
dinary drove  out  to  the  Monastery  dedicated  to  the 
Most  Holy  Resurrection,  distant  six  German  miles 
from  Moscow.  The  Bazilian  monks  took  the  most 
laudable  pains  to  receive  the  Lord  Envoy  honorably. 
They  served  up  with  most  lavish  politeness  a  vast 
quantity  of  fresh  fish  out  of  their  own  fishponds, 
beer,  brandy,  and  dishes  dressed  in  the  Russian  fash- 
ion. The  Czar's  ministers  had*  recommended  the 
monks  to  show  all  this  civility  of  polite  preparation. 

10th  JuTie,  1699. —  We  were  led  by  a  monk 
through  the  monastery,  Avhich  is  enclosed  with  huge 
walls.  The  refectories  for  the  whole  community 
were  shown  to  us,  as  were  the  cells  of  the  monks ;  the 
latter  are  separated  by  a  very  thin  partition.     The 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  153 

Church  is  a  large  and  very  noble  pile,  sumptuously 
built  by  the  Patriarch  Nichon,  and,  carried  out  ex- 
actly on  the  model  of  that  on  Mount  Calvary  in 
Jerusalem,  represents  every  circumstance  of  Christ's 
passion,  in  different  chapels.  While  we  were  ex- 
amining the  church  at  our  leisure,  Wignius  arrived 
with  the  Brandenburgh  Resident,  in  company  with 
whom  we  had  our  dinner  here;  at  which  a  Russified 
Pole,  who  spoke  good  liatin,  and  two  other  monks 
high  in  office,  were  present ;  after  which  we  set  off  to 
an  estate  of  his  (Wignius*s),  that  lay  some  miles 
further  on.  His  house,  constructed  of  brick,  is  built 
with  various  conveniences.  The  stream  that  glides 
past  it,  and  the  wide  open  fields  around  it,  afforded 
a  charming  view.  We  first  amused  ourselves  de- 
lightfully boating,  and  enticing  the  unwary  fish  into 
the  cunning  net,  a  diversion  all  the  more  pleasant, 
when  we  knew  we  should  have  them  for  supper,  for 
which  it  was  delightful  to  catch  them.  Our  host 
omitted  none  of  those  attentions  that  might  denote 
sincere  affection  and  truth. 

11th  June,  1699. —  After  fowling  and  dinner  duly 
performed,  and  friendly  greetings  had  been  mutually 
exchanged,  the  Brandenburgh  Resident  desired  to 
return  to  Moscow,  along  with  the  Imperial  Lord 
Envoy.  At  a  village  called  Angeliko,  on  an  estate 
belonging  to  the  monastery,  we  passed  that  night. 

12th  June,  1699. —  After  accomplishing  four 
miles,   we  reached  Moscow,   and   the  Ambassadorial 


154   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

Palace,  at  about  ten  in  the  day.  In  a  grove,  an 
hour  distant  from  the  city  —  where  the  Germans 
are  in  the  habit  of  going  to  amuse  themselves  —  there 
grew  so  hot  a  quarrel  between  Captains  Erchel  and 
Printz,  that  swords  were  drawn,  and  wounds  given 
on  both  sides. 

21st  June,  1699. —  No  time  was  allowed  to  the 
Venetian  shipwrights  to  purify  their  consciences  by 
sacramental  confession,  they  are  kept  working  as 
hard  as  they  can  by  the  Czar,  toiling  without  rest 
at  shipbuilding. 

5th,  6th  July,  1699. —  A  Russian  merchant 
claimed  a  debt  of  four  roubles  from  a  certain  Ger- 
man for  goods  bought.  When  the  German  denied 
that  he  owed  so  much,  the  Russian  with  much  voci- 
feration, several  times  most  atrociously  calling  on 
all  the  powers  celestial  and  infernal  to  witness,  en- 
deavored to  prove  his  claim.  So  the  German  ap- 
pointed the  Russian  arbiter  on  his  proffered  oath; 
who  thereupon  entering  the  nearest  church,  falsely 
made  the  requisite  oath.  In  a  short  time  after  he 
himself  confessed  that  the  German  did  not  owe  him 
four  roubles,  but  only  two ;  that  the  other  two  were 
due  to  him  by  another,  also  a  German,  and  that  he 
could  claim  them  in  turn.  This  is  respect  for  an 
oath !  this  is  piety  towards  God !  the  taking  of  whose 
name  in  vain  is  no  scruple  of  conscience  to  this  peo- 
ple. 

9th  July,   1699. —  The   Muscovites  perform   the 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  155 

annual  festival  of  the  Holy  Apostles,  Peter  and 
Paul,  and  of  the  Czar,  who  was  named  Peter  in  bap- 
tism. 

The  Czar's  castle  at  Ismailow,  laid  out  most  agree- 
ably for  a  summer  residence,  is  surrounded  by  a 
grove  of  trees,  not  thickly  planted,  but  growing  to 
a  prodigious  height,  and  affording  an  admirable 
refuge  beneath  the  cool  shade  of  their  lofty  and 
spreading  branches  from  the  burning  heat  of  sum- 
mer. It  pleased  the  Lord  Envoy  to  go  and  see  the 
delightful  neighborhood  of  this  wood,  to  contem- 
plate and  enjoy  the  famous  charms  of  the  place. 
Musicians  followed  to  aid  the  gentle  whisperings  of 
the  woods  and  winds  with  sweeter  harmonies. 

The  Czarine,  the  Czarewicz,  and  the  unmarried 
princesses,  enticed  by  the  gentle  season  of  the  year, 
were  then  staying  at  that  castle,  and  they  were  fond 
of  rambling  through  the  dense  thickets  to  the  pleas- 
ant glades  of  the  forest,  and  killing  time  in  the  sweet 
disports  and  forgetfulness  of  busy  repose.  It  so 
happened  that  they  were  thus  engaged  at  the  mo- 
ment when  the  sweet  symphony  of  clarions  and  reed 
instruments  gushed  in  gentlest  measure  upon  their 
ears,  and  made  them  cease  awhile  from  their  occupa- 
tion. The  musicians  grew  ambitious  upon  finding 
themselves  observed  and  were  giving  satisfaction  to 
the  observers,  and  with  most  graceful  emulation  they 
strove  one  with  another  who  should  bear  off  the 
palm   in   witching   with   his    sweet    skill,   these   ears 


156      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

Most  Serene  to  longest  forgetfulness.  They  re- 
mained a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  praised  exceedingly 
the  skill  of  all  the  musicians. 

10th  July,  1699. —  A  Lithuanian  Catholic  boy, 
seduced  by  the  Muscovites,  fled  from  our  kitchen  to 
a  certain  Russian  prince,  to  embrace  the  Russian  re- 
ligion, in  the  hope  of  getting  a  wife,  as  they  had 
promised  him  upon  that  condition.  Knes  Repnin,''^ 
Colonel  of  the  Dragoons,  and  his  servants,  stung  by 
some  gad-fly  to  frenzy,  broke  violently  in  upon  the 
city  guard,  and  as  he  was  on  the  point  of  snatcliing 
away  the  colors,  the  ensign  received  him  upon  his 
pike  in  the  most  creditable  manner.  'Several  others 
were  wounded  in  the  strife  on  both  sides. 

IJ/^th  July,  1699. —  Came  Diak  Jacob  Nikonow, 
having  heard  of  the  complaints  of  some  of  our  peo- 
ple, who  had  been  uncivilly  affronted  lately  by  the 
Watch,  and  after  previously  examining  the  accused 
dragoons,  condemned  them  all  eight,  notwithstanding 
the  splendor  of  their  birth  —  for  they  were  noble  — 
to  the  penalty  of  the  battok.  By  order  of  the  Czar 
the  sentence  was  executed  in  the  Court  of  the  Am- 
bassadorial Palace,  the  number  of 'blows  with  which 
they  were  to  be  chastised  was  left  to  the  arbitrament 
of  those  to  whom  their  evil  stars  had 'led  them  to  give 
very  ill-treatment. 

7  Prince  Anikita  Repnin,  who  was  a  constant  friend  of  Peter 
the  Great.  He  rose  to  be  a  field  marshal.  The  family  is 
extinct  in  the  male  line. 


DIPLOMATIC  INCIDENTS  157 

A  Czar's  banquet,  not  inferior  in  opulence  and 
splendor  to  that  given  to  us  before,  was  carried  to 
the  Lord  Envoy  with  the  useful  solemn  state  and 
procession  of  two  hundred  men.  After  a  sip  of 
brandy?  which  was  brought  round  in  a  cup  made  of 
a  precious  stone,  the  first  toast  was  to  the  health  of 
the  Most  August  Empel-or;  the  second,  that  of  the 
Most  Serene  Czar;  the  third,  of  the  Most  Serene 
King  of  the  Romans ;  the  fourth,  the  Czarewicz ;  the 
fifth,  the  Lord  Envoy.  The  mutual  wordy  compli- 
ments of  the  Pristaw  and  of  the  Lord  Envoy,  con- 
sisted in  protestations  of  sincere  friendship. 

15th,  July,  1699. —  Those  who  had  any  part  of 
care  or  trouble  in  yesterday's  Imj^erial  banquet,  con- 
ference and  solemn  dismissal,  stood  awaiting  with 
most  greedy  hopes,  the  largess  of  the  Lord  Envoy, 
and  received  gifts  in  proportion  to  their  several  func- 
tions. 

IGth  Jvly,  1699. —  The  Russians  celebrated  the 
festival  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  of  Casan.  The  Mus- 
covites beHeve  that  the  image  which  they  venerate 
under  that  name  had  always  been  suspended  in  the 
clouds,  and  was  seen  by  the  entire  Russian  army  that 
beleaguered  Casan,  during  the  whole  time  of  the 
siege ;  but  that  after  the  city  was  stormed,  the  image 
fell  from  the  sky  to  the  ground,  and  was  with  the 
utmost  reverence  lifted  up  by  the  Russians,  and  has 
ever  since  been  held  in  worship. 

About  evening  came  the  head  scribe  of  the  Am- 


158      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

'bassadorial  Chancery,  attended  by  many  others 
from  the  same  office,  and  distributed  the  Czar's  pres- 
ents, consisting  of  sable  furs,  to  the  Lord  Envoy 
and  the  whole  of  his  suite. 

19th,  20th  July,  i 699.— Yesterday  and  to-day 
leave-taking  began ;  farewell  being  bidden  to  all  that 
were  familiar  and  intimate  friends.  Full-size  por- 
traits of  their  Imperial  Majesties,  the  Emperor  and 
Empress,  of  the  Most  Serene  King  of  the  Romans, 
and  of  the  Most  Serene  Archduke  Charles,  were 
sent  as  a  present  to  the  Prime  Minister,  Leo  Kirilow- 
icz  Nareskin. 

21st,  22nd  July,  1699. —  Having  performed  the 
last  civility  of  farewell  visits  in  the  German  Slowoda, 
we  all  prepared  for  to-morrow's  departure.  The 
Lord  Envoy  has  been  several  times  invited  by  the 
Prime  Minister  to  a  seat  of  his  called  Filli,  some 
versts  distant  from  Moscow. 

At  four  miles  distant  from  Moscow  the  Grand 
Swedish  Embassy  lay,  awaiting  the  order  for  en- 
tering the  city.  For  their  suitable  lodging  there 
was  assigned  a  house  formerly  inhabited  by  popes, 
and  commonly  called  das  Pfaffenhaus. 


X 


RETURN  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  LEGATION 
FROM  MUSCO\^"  TO  VIENNA 

23rd  July,  1699. —  Although  no  such  practice  or 
custom  be  in  force  in  any  European  Court,  as  ac- 
companying the  departure  of  the  Ministers  of 
foreign  Princes  with  a  pubhc  solemnity  and  extra- 
ordinary exhibition  of  pomp ;  so  that  for  ages  it  had 
come  to  be  considered  a  useless  expense  of  public 
honors  to  wait  on  their  departure  with  state  or 
splendor;  nevertheless  the  Court  of  Russia  departed 
in  our  time  by  a  contrary  usage  from  this  general 
sentiment,  honoring  Mr.  de  Printz,  Envoy  Extraor- 
dinary of  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  (as  an  es- 
pecial friendly  distinction,  in  order  to  exhibit  more 
abundantly  the  fraternal  bonds  lately  confirmed  be- 
tween the  two  princes),  with  the  same  state  cere- 
monial at  his  departure  as  that  with  which  they 
received  him  on  his  arrival,  and  had  thought  fit  to 
accompany  his  entry  into  their  walls.  The  like  was 
intimated  to  the  Lord  Envoy  also,  after  the  cere- 
monial of  giving  him  his  re-credentials.  He  indeed 
set  himself  against  this  novel  and  unusual  method  of 

demonstrative  friendship ;  but  it  was  labor  in  vain. 

159 


160   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

After  his  multifarious  objections,  the  commands  of 
His  Majesty  the  Czar  were  brought  back,  directing 
that  the  Lord  Envoy  should  be  dismissed  with  such 
honors  as  had  never  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  minister 
before  him. 

So  after  duly  providing  by  solemn  protest,  that 
the  Muscovites  should  not  pretend  to  make  these 
unusual  ceremonies  a  precedent  at  the  Emperor's 
Court,  he  left  it  to  their  own  free  will  to  distinguish 
his  departure  with  whatever  honors  they  might 
choose. 

Now,  it  was  in  no  particular  different  from  the 
handsome  ceremonial  which  they  had  appointed  for 
our  entry.  There  were  squadrons  of  the  new  cav- 
alry ;  detachments  of  the  light  troops,  a  most  gorge- 
ous coach  of  the  Czar's,  and  horses  glittering  with 
new  trappings  of  gold  and  silver  and  gems,  awaited 
the  Lord  Envoy's  officials.  Along  with  the  Lord 
Envoy,  there  sat  in  the  coach  a  prist  aw  in  ordinary, 
as  well  as  the  interpreter,  and  they  were  to  conduct 
him  as  far  as  the  place  where  fifteen  months  ago  the 
ceremonial  of  reception  had  been  solemnly  gone 
through. 

Tlirough  the  leading  streets  of  the  city,  every- 
where beset  by  a  countless  throng  of  men,  we  reached 
the  banks  of  the  river  of  Moscow.  The  crossing  was 
not  quite  exempt  from  danger,  for  the  bridge  was 
only  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  and  did  not  reach 
the  bank  at  either  side;  so  that  the  ascent  and  the 


RETURN  OF  THE  LEGATION         161 

descent  were  of  no  little  difficulty.  But  the  dangers 
of  such  ill-made  bridges  seems  little  or  nothing  to 
the  ^Muscovites,  though  they  swallow  up  no  few  peo- 
ple that  are  deceived  by  the  unexpected  declivity. 
Jemska  Slowoda  (the  coachmen's  suburb)  occupies 
the  further  bank.  The  pristaff's  attendance  was 
limited  to  the  bounds  of  this  suburb.  Here  the 
coach  stopped,  the  pristaw  bade  farewell,  and  capped 
the  adopted  ceremonial  with  the  last  compliments. 
The  noble  estate  of  the  Prime  Minister  and  Boyar, 
Lord  Leo  Kirilowicz  Nareskin,  called  Filli,  is  only 
seven  versts  distant  from  Moscow.  He  had  some 
days  previously  invited  the  Lord  Envoy,  at  his  de- 
parture, to  a  dinner,  which  he  got  up  there  in  most 
splendid  style.  Scarcely  was  the  ceremonial  at  an 
end,  when  one  of  the  officials  of  that  Boyar,  who  was 
sent  by  his  master  to  show  the  way  to  the  estate, 
presented  himself,  politely  begging  that  the  Lord 
Envoy  M^ould  deign  to  follow  him.  Thus  with  the 
whole  train  and  baggage,  which  was  carried  by  ninety 
potwoda,  he  left  the  high  road  escorted  by  the  repre- 
sentatives of  foreign  ministers  and  several  officers  of 
the  Czar's  army.  So  great  were  the  compliments  of 
the  guests  ujDon  entering  the  place,  which  was  for  the 
most  part  thronged  with  the  principal  Germans,  that 
you  might  have  thought  they  were  contending  for  a 
prize.  There  was  a  great  and  general  studiousness 
of  friendship ;  sovereign  was  the  emulation  of  many 
to  express  with  greater  force  the  integrity  of  their 


162   COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

feelings,  till  at  length  the  summons  to  the  costly 
banquet  that  was  served  brought  back  the  guests  to 
themselves.  Except  the  Prime  Minister  and  his 
kinsman,  and  our  usual  interpreter,  Mr.  Schweren- 
berg,  no  Russian  guest  was  there.  The  Germans, 
in  numbers  were  invited  instead  of  them. 

The  banquet  was  not  inferior  to  Royal  sumptu- 
ousness,  nor  was  it  cooked  in  the  Russian  fashion, 
but  well  dressed  to  the  German  taste.  The  rare 
profusion  of  viands,  the  costliness  of  the  gold  and 
silver  plate,  the  variety  and  exquisiteness  of  the 
beverages,  bespoke  plainly  the  near  blood-relation  of 
the  Czar.^  After  dinner  there  was  an  archery 
match:  nobody  was  excused  because  of  the  exercise 
being  strange  to  him,  or  for  his  want  of  skill  in  a 
matter  to  which  he  was  unaccustomed.  A  sheet  of 
paper  stuck  in  the  ground  was  the  butt.  The  Prime 
Minister  perforated  it  several  times,  amidst  general 
applause.  As  the  rain  drove  us  from  this  most 
pleasant  exercise,  we  retired  again  to  the  apart- 
ments of  the  Boyar.  Nareskin,  taking  the  Lord 
Envoy  by  the  hand,  led  him  to  his  wife's  chambers 
to  salute  and  be  saluted.  There  is  no  higher  mark 
of  honor  among  the  Russians.  He  is  honored  in  the 
highest  degree  Avhom  the  husband  invites  to  embrace 
his  wife,  and  to  receive  the  extreme  compliment  of  a 
sip  of  brandy  from  her  hand.     Nor  should  I  pass 

1  Nareskin's  sister  was  the  Czarina,  mother  of  Peter  I.     See 
Afpendix. 


RETURN  OF  THE  LEGATION        163 

unmentioned  the  liberality  which  the  Boyar  exhibited 
in  his  gift  of  a  costly  pelisse  of  sables  to  the  Lord 
Envoy.  Yet  this  munificence  was  not  altogether  de- 
void of  some  thought  of  his  own  advantage.  For 
the  Boyar  laboredly  sought  an,  occasion  of  moving 
discourse,  and  calling  to  remembrance  the  honors  of 
the  day,  when  the  Most  August  Emperor's  clemency 
distinguished  Basil  Kirilowicz  Galizin,  who  held  the 
first  place  of  authority  in  Muscovy  fourteen  years 
ago,  sending  him  a  coach  by  INIr.  Kurz.  Eager,  no 
doubt,  that  the  Emperor  should  exhibit  equal  con- 
descension to  him  who  ambitiousl}^  occupies  the  same 
place  and  office  at  present.  Whither  tended  the 
atrocious  threats  against  Diak  Basil  Bosnikow,  that 
there  was  no  scarcity  of  cudgels  to  chastise  his  im- 
pertinence towards  him?  Certainly  this  was  meant 
to  mollify  the  Lord  Envoy,  who  was  querulous  about 
this  Diak's  rude  manners,  and  to  make  fair  sail  for 
the  object  of  his  ambition  by  the  Lord  Envoy's 
favorable  report.  But  he  lost  his  toil  and  his  labor, 
when,  after  General  Gordon  having  already  occupied 
the  seat  of  honor,  he  invited  the  Imperial  Envoy  to 
get  into  his  coach,  that  he  might  conduct  him  to  an- 
other estate  of  his  two  versts  further  on.  Yet  the 
man  was  rather  to  be  pardoned  for  his  simplicity 
than  reprehended  for  craftiness ;  and  so  he  was  hor- 
ror-stricken when  the  Lord  Envoy  said:  "You 
postpone  the  Imperial  Envoy  to  General  Gordon !  " 
While  he  was  seeking  to  remedy  this,  the  Imperial 


164      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

Envoy  got  into  his  own  carriage,  and  so  drove  off 
with  the  rest  to  that  estate.  Receiving  his  guests 
there  with  much  politeness,  the  proprietor  pointed 
out  his  conveniences  for  the  chase  on  an  adjacent  hill 
that  was  studded  with  little  thickets,  and  sloped  with 
a  gentle  declivity  into  a  valley;  and  he  sought  to 
win  back  the  offended  spirit  of  the  Lord  Envoy  by 
the  offer  of  two  sporting  dogs,  which  he  warranted 
capital.  After  tarrying  for  a  brief  space  here, 
thanks  were  given  and  farewell  bidden  not  only  to 
the  Boyar,  but  to  all  the  guests  present.  Colonel 
Gordon's  main  task  was  to  excuse  his  father  of  the 
offense  received  in  his  person  from  the  Boyar.  Col- 
onel de  Grage  and  the  Czar's  doctor.  Carbonari,  fol- 
lowed our  tents  three  versts  further. 

Beneath  the  open  sky,  under  canvas,  we  passed  the 
night.  But  as  a  scarcity  of  water  was  apparent, 
the  Lord  Envoy  not  unjustly  inveighed  against  the 
Czar's  pristaw,  for  it  was  incumbent  on  him  to  have 
provided  against  such  circumstances.  Although 
there  was  no  inn  near,  still  we  were  not  afflicted  with 
any  scarcity  of  eatables  or  drinkables. 

2Ji.th  July,  1699. —  After  solemn  leave-taking  on 
both  sides,  those  returned  to  Moscow,  who  as  I  have 
already  said,  accompanied  us  to  the  field  and  to  our 
tents ;  and  we  too  speedily  started  on  an  opposite 
route. 


APPENDIX 

The  notes  in  this  appendix  are  arranged  alphabeti- 
cally. They  contain  additional  information  about  cer- 
tain persons  and  other  matters  in  the  text,  and  they  are 
intended  to  assist  the  reader  in  understanding  various 
remarks  and  allusions  of  the  Diary. 

The  method  of  transliteration  of  Russian  names 
adopted  by  Count  Macdonnell  has  —  with  a  very  few 
exceptions  —  been  observed  in  reprinting  the  excerpts 
from  the  Diary.  Other  methods  of  spelling  these  names 
have  been  added  in  parenthesis  in  order  that  readers 
desirous  for  further  information  should  have  no  difficulty 
in  finding  the  names  in  works  of  reference. 

Minor  errors  which  are  of  importance  to  the  historian 
only  and  about  which  the  author  himself  admitted  his 
doubts  have  not  been  commented  on,  as  for  instance  the 
rumor,  which  was  erroneous,  that  Shukova,  a  confidential 
chamberwoman  of  Czarina  Martha,  had  been  buried  alive 
as  a  punishment  for  being  imjDlicated  in  the  revolt  of  the 
Strelitz.  In  the  same  way  the  correspondence  with  the 
Strelitz  ascribed  by  the  author  of  the  Diary  to  Sophia 
was  as  a  matter  of  fact  written  by  the  Czarina  Martha. 

Regarding  the  completeness  of  Count  Macdonnell's 
translation  (see  Introduction  p.  xxiii)  the  rather  prudish 
count  omitted  page  70  of  the  Latin  original  describing 
in  a  Chauccresque  style  the  nightly  bacchanalia  of  the 
Muscovite  clerics  with  their  wives.     Other  passages  in 

1G5 


166      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

similar  vein  he  was  disinclined  to  render  in  English  and 
left  them  in  the  original  Latin.  Some  of  these  have 
been  given  in  English  in  this  edition. 

Apraxin  (Apraksin),  Martha. —  She  was  of  a  Boyar 
family,  the  pedigree  of  which  is  traced  to  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  was  the  second  wife  of  Czar  Theodore,  the 
eldest  half-brother  of  Czar  Peter,  who  died  in  1682.  a 
few  months  after  the  marriage.  Czarina  Martha  was 
but  little  more  than  fourteen  years  when  married.  She 
died  in  1716.  Her  brother  became  an  Admiral  of  the 
Russian  fleet  and  a  count. 

Dwarfs. —  There  was  no  lack  of  dwarfs  at  the  Czar's 
court.  They  were  introduced  on  all  occasions,  and  even 
put  into  pies  which  the  Czar  cut  open  with  great  relish. 
At  the  funeral  of  one  who  had  been  long  attached  to  the 
household  of  Peter,  twenty-four  male  and  as  many 
female  dwarfs  walked  in  procession,  followed  by  Peter 
in  person  as  well  as  by  his  ministers  and  guards.  In 
1708  Prince  Menshikow  wrote  to  his  wife:  "  I  send  you 
a  present  of  two  girls,  one  of  whom  is  very  small  and 
can  serve  as  a  parrot.  She  is  more  talkative  than  is 
usual  among  such  little  people,  and  can  make  you  much 
gayer  than  if  she  were  a  real  parrot."  In  1710,  follow- 
ing the  marriage  of  the  Princess  Anne  to  the  Duke  of 
Courland,  a  marriage  of  two  dwarfs  was  celebrated  with 
the  same  rites  and  pomp  as  had  been  observed  at  the 
marriage  of  the  Duke  and  the  Princess.  On  this  oc- 
casion seventy-two  dwarfs  supped  at  a  separate  table 
in  the  hall  of  Prince  Menshikow's  palace.  They  were 
made  as  drunk  as  the  rest  of  the  company  and  their 
antics  furnished  great  amusement.  They  were  given 
the    Czar's    cabinet    for    a    nuptial    chamber.     In    1716 


APPENDIX  167 

Menshikow  wrote :  "  Since  one  of  my  daughters  pos- 
sesses a  dwarf  girl  and  the  other  does  not,  therefore  I 
beg  you  kindly  to  ask  Her  Majesty,  the  Czarina,  to 
allow  me  to  take  one  of  the  dwarfs  which  were  left  after 
the  death  of  the  Czarina  Martha."  No  noble  residence 
was  considered  well  furnished  without  dwarfs  and  the 
birth  of  a  dwarf  was  even  considered  a  piece  of  good 
luck.  There  is  a  decree  in  the  archives  of  the  Senate 
granting  freedom  from  serfdom  to  the  father  and  family 
of  a  dwarf.  When  Peter  as  a  child  went  to  church,  a 
dbuble  row  of  dwarfs,  carrying  red  silken  curtains,  fol- 
lowed him,  a  moving  prison,  always  with  him. 

German  Slowoda  (also  "  Dutch  Suburb  "  or  "  Ger- 
man Settlement"). —  Beyond  the  gates  of  the  old  cap- 
ital, towards  the  north-western  corner  of  the  modern 
city  of  Moscow,  there  arose,  on  the  borders  of  the 
Jaouza,  (lausa)  a  scanty  affluent  of  the  Moscva  river, — 
a  kind  of  Ghetto,  specially  assigned  to  the  Niemtsy,  i.  e. 
those  who  did  not  speak  the  tongue  of  the  country,  and 
who  in  consequence,  were  niemoi,  dumb.  In  the  middle 
ages  there  were  a  few  German  merchants  here  from  the 
Hansa  cities.  In  the  17th  century  there  were  besides 
the  Dutch  and  Germans  many  Englishmen  and  Scotch- 
men, exiles  during  Cromwell's  rule.  Later  the  French- 
men came,  when  Louis  XIV.  drove  the  Protestants  out 
of  France.  New  political  and  Scientific  ideas  from 
Western  Europe  were  here  and  the  more  enlightened 
of  the  Russian  statesmen  like  Basil  Galizin  went  there 
to  dine  and  talk  with  the  foreigners.  Czar  Peter  too 
frequented  the  Dutch  Suburb  witli  his  "  jolly  company," 
i.  e.  his  friends,  favorites  and  casual  acquaintances. 

Galizin      (Golitsuin),     Boris     Alexiewicz. —  Of     a 


168   COURT  OF  PETEK  THE  GREAT 

princely  family  of  Lithuanian  descent,  he  was  one  of 
Peter's  chief  supporters  when  he  broke  with  his  half- 
sister  Sophia  in  1689.  During  the  Czar's  first  foreign 
tour  (1697-1608)  he  was  one  of  three  regents  of  Rus- 
sia. He  was  highly  educated,  spoke  Latin  with  fluency, 
frequented  tlie  society  of  scholars  and  had  his  children 
brought  up  according  to  the  best  European  methods. 
But  being  a  habitual  drunkard  and  a  parasite  on  the 
foreigners,  he  ruined  his  reputation  in  spite  of  the  great 
services  he  had  rendered. 

Galizin  (Golitsuin),  Basil. —  A  cousin  of  Boris 
Galizin  and  chief  counselor  of  Sophia.  Although  one 
of  the  few  great  Russian  nobles  who  favored  Western 
civilization  and  a  friend  of  the  foreigners  in  Moscow 
with  whom  he  used  to  dine  and  converse,  the  Strelitz  at 
their  revolt  offered  him  the  throne  in  case  Sophia  refused 
to  accept  it  because  he  had  always  been  merciful  to 
them.     He  died  in  exile  in  1714. 

GoLoviN,  Theodore  Alexiewicz. —  The  first  Russian 
statesman  in  the  modern  sense  and  one  of  Peter's  best 
friends.  In  the  grand  embassy  in  1697  Golovin  oc- 
cupied the  second  place  immediately  after  Lefort,  on 
whose  death  in  March  1699  he  succeeded  him  as  Ad- 
miral-General. The  conduct  of  foreign  affairs  was  also 
entrusted  to  him  and  from  1699  until  his  death  in  1706 
he  was  considered  as  a  kind  of  prime  minister  of  the 
Czar. 

GoLovKiN,  Gabriel  Ivanowicz. —  The  son  of  a  high 
official,  he  began  his  career  as  a  page  at  the  court  of 
Czar  Alexius,  became,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  one  of 
Peter's  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber,  and  subsequently 
was  raised  to  the  rank  of  Oberkammerherr  and  created 


APPENDIX  169 

a  count.  During  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  became  as 
famous  for  his  avarice  as  for  his  stinginess. 

Gordon,  Patrick. —  A  Scotch  soldier  of  fortune  and  a 
Russian  general  who  made  his  first  appearance  in  public 
life  as  a  witness  to  a  deed  by  which  his  father  added  to 
the  still  growing  burden  of  the  family  debts.  He  was 
then  a  boy  of  fifteen  on  the  eve  of  setting  out  to  seek 
his  fortune  as  a  foreign  mercenary,  according  to  the 
fashion  of  the  time  which  taught  the  country  gentleman, 
however  needy,  to  look  on  trade  with  contempt.  Patrick 
Ivanovicz,  as  he  was  called  among  the  Muscovites,  took 
part  in  the  revolution  of  1689  on  the  side  of  Peter 
against  Sophia  and  became  thereby  one  of  the  first  favor- 
ites of  the  Czar,  who  closed  his  eyes  when  he  died  in 
1699.  Passages  from  the  Diary  of  General  Patrick 
Gordon  of  Auchleuchries  were  printed  for  the  Spalding 
Club  in  1859. 

Lapoukine  (Lopukhina),  Eudoxia. —  Peter's  first 
wife  of  boyar  family  which  traces  its  origin  back  to  the 
15th  century.  During  his  western  tour  Peter  suggested 
to  her  repeatedly  to  take  the  veil  voluntarily  which  she 
refused  to  do.  After  his  return  he  had  her  shut  up  in 
a  convent  where  she  was  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a 
simple  nun.  Eudoxia  appeared  again  during  Peter's 
proceedings  against  their  son  Alexis.  Slie  was  ar- 
rested on  account  of  her  correspondence  with  her  son 
and  on  the  further  allegation  that  she  had  relations  with 
a  Major  Gliebof.  It  was  also  alleged  that  she  liad  in 
no  waj^  conformed  to  the  rules  of  the  convent  but  had 
assumed  there  a  secular  habit  and  the  state  of  a  princess. 
Eudoxia  was  now  sent  to  another  convent  near  St. 
Petersburg  where  she  lived  until  the  accession  of  her 


170      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

grandson,  Peter  II.,  wlien  she  was  released.  She  ap- 
peared occasionally  in  court  but  the  long  seclusion  had 
dulled  her  mind  and  she  died  in  1731. 

Her  alleged  lover  Gliebof  was  executed  less  on  ac- 
count of  his  relations  with  her  than  for  having  sympa- 
thized with  Alexis.  After  having  been  tortured  by  the 
knout,  by  redhot  irons,  and  by  burning  coal  he  was  fas- 
tened for  three  days  upon  a  plank  with  wooden  spikes, 
and  as  he  confessed  nothing  more,  lie  was  impaled. 
During  his  imjDalement  which  lasted  over  twenty-four 
hours  till  he  died,  Peter  visited  him  in  the  endeavor  to 
elicit  a  last  confession.  For  an  answer  Gliebof  spit  in 
his  face.  Eudoxia's  brother,  Abraham  Lopukhin,  met 
a  similar  though  less  cruel  fate. 

Lefort,  Fran9ois. —  An  adventurer  of  Swiss-French 
extraction,  who  in  1675,  when  only  nineteen,  had  en- 
tered Czar  Theodore's  service,  and  finally  drifted  to 
Moscow  where  he  married  a  cousin  of  Patrick  Gordon. 
After  participating  in  various  campaigns  he  settled  down 
in  the  Dutch  Suburb  (German  Slowoda)  at  Moscow 
where  he  met  the  young  Czar.  Peter  chose  him  as  one 
of  his  advisers  and  favorites,  which  position  he  held  until 
his  death.  Things  impossible  to  describe  happened  ac- 
cording to  Kurakin,  one  of  Peter's  companions  in  the 
large  hall  added  at  Peter's  expense  to  Lefort's  house. 
There  were  drinking  banquets  lasting  for  three  whole 
days  during  which  not  unfrequently  some  of  the  guests 
died.  In  Lefort's  house  Peter  met  also  his  first  mis- 
tress, Anna  Mons. 

Mentschikow  (Menshikov),  Alexander  Danilowicz. 
—  He  is  frequently  mentioned  as  "  Alexasca "  in  the 
Diary,  and  was  literally  plucked  from  the  gutter  by  Gen- 


APPENDIX  171 

eral  Lefort  who  made  him  his  valet.  In  Lefort's  house 
Peter  saw  him  and  chose  him  as  his  own  attendant. 
But  from  a  servant  he  soon  developed  into  an  equally 
indispensable  friend.  He  lived  and  worked  by  the  side 
of  Peter  during  his  first  foreign  tour.  Later  he  became 
the  governor  of  Peter's  son  Alexis,  whom  he  treated  ac- 
cording to  the  Czar's  wishes  with  ferocious  brutality. 
Titles  and  honors  were  showered  upon  him.  Emperor 
Leopold  I.  created  him  in  1705  a  Prince  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire  and  Peter  invested  him  two  years  later 
with  the  dignity  of  a  Russian  Prince.  He  died  in  1729 
as  an  exile  in  Siberia. 

MoNS,  Anna. —  She  is  mentioned  by  the  author  of  the 
Diary  unobtrusively  as  "  Miss  Mons  "  and  was  the  first 
mistress  of  Czar  Peter.  Alexander  Gordon,  son  of 
Patrick  Gordon,  calls  her  "  a  wine  merchant's  daughter, 
of  Livonian  extraction,  exceeding  beautiful  and  taking." 
When  Peter  returned  from  his  western  tour  he  went 
to  visit  her  first  before  seeing  his  wife  Eudoxia.  He 
broke  with  Anna  Mons  after  some  time,  however,  accus- 
ing her  of  infidelity.     She  then  married  a  diplomat. 

Peter's  attitude  to  women  is  well  characterized  in  a 
contemporaneous  diplomatic  dispatch  reporting  a  con- 
versation the  Czar  had  with  the  King  of  Denmark. 
"  Ah,  brother,"  the  King  is  reported  to  have  asked,  "  so 
I  hear  you  have  a  mistress  ?  "  Wliereupon  the  Czar  is 
said  to  have  answered:  "Brother,  my  harlots  do  not 
cost  me  much  but  yours  cost  you  millions  of  crowns 
which   might  be  better   spent." 

Althougli  lie  fixed  tlie  price  of  the  favors  bestowed 
on  his  soldiers  in  St.  Petersburg  at  one  kopeck  for  three 
kisses  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  after  his  first  in- 


172      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

terview  with  Martha  Glueck,  the  later  Empress  Cath- 
erine, he  enriched  her  with  a  solitary  ducat.  Peter  was 
not  altogether  incapable  of  appreciating  the  more  deli- 
cate charm  of  the  company  of  women,  and  Russian 
feminine  society  was  one  of  his  first  creations.  On  the 
whole  however  he  preferred  servant  girls  or  similar 
tyjDCS.  Such  was  Catherine,  his  second  wife,  who  had 
begun  her  career  by  wandering  from  camp  to  camp  at 
the  disposal  of  the  soldiers  and  officers  of  her  future 
consort. 

The  brother  of  Anna  Mons,  William,  was  accused 
later  of  having  had  relations  with  Catherine,  and  was 
executed.  After  the  execution  Peter  passed  the  scaffold 
in  a  sledge  together  with  Catherine  and  so  close  that 
her  robes  touched  the  body  of  her  alleged  lover.  When 
the  Czarine  appeared  unmoved  by  the  sight,  Peter  had 
the  severed  head  of  William  Mons  preserved  in  alcohol 
placed  in  her  apartments.  Many  years  afterward  a 
commission  appointed  to  investigate  the  consumption  of 
spirits  in  the  imperial  household  discovered  two  vessels 
in  the  cellars  of  the  castle  containing  the  heads  of  a 
former  mistress  of  Czar  Peter  and  of  William  Mons, 
which  preserved  their  pristine  beauty.  The  heads  were 
buried  in  the  vaults  of  the  castle  by  command  of  Cath- 
erine II. 

Nariskin  (Narishkin),  Leo  Kirilowicz. —  He  was 
the  uncle  and  devoted  friend  of  the  Czar  and  regent 
during  Peter's  western  tour. 

RoMADONOwsKY,  Theodore. —  One  of  Peter's  favor- 
ites and  famous  for  his  cruelty.  During  the  Czar's 
western  tour  he  was  charged  with  maintaining  order  in 
Moscow. 


APPENDIX  173 

ScHACHiN  (ScHEiN,  Shein)^  Alexis. —  A  boyar  of  a 
distinguished  family  whose  ai^pointment  as  commander 
in  chief  of  the  army  was  intended  to  silence  the  com- 
plaints of  the  Nationalists  that  too  many  foreigners 
were  employed  in  high  offices.  The  quarrel  between  the 
Czar  and  Schachin  at  a  banquet  during  the  period  of 
punishment  of  the  Strelitz,  page  38  of  the  Diary,  ensued 
not  without  good  reason.  When  it  had  become  known  in 
the  summer  of  1698  that  the  Czar  was  returning  sooner 
than  was  generally  expected,  the  surprised  boyars  held 
councils  twice  a  day  and  under  threat  of  the  whip  forced 
the  merchants'  clerks  to  make  out  accounts  for  them. 
The  promotions  of  officers  made  by  Schachin  during  the 
Czar's  absence  were  all  cancelled. 

Sophia. —  The  third  daughter  of  Czar  Alexius  and  a 
half  sister  to"  Peter.  Like  her  brother.  Czar  Theodore, 
she  had  had  a  relatively  superior  education  under  the 
guidance  of  learned  monks  from  Kieff.  Taking  over 
the  regency  of  Russia  in  1682  she  governed  in  the  name 
of  Peter  and  his  infirm  and  half  idiotic  brother  Ivan 
until  1689  when  her  attempt  to  dethrone  Peter  was 
defeated  and  she  was  forced  to  return  to  a  monaster}'. 
In  1698  after  the  revolt  of  the  Strelitz  she  was  shorn 
as  a  nun  and  imprisoned  for  life-time  as  Sister  Susannah. 
Some  have  described  her  as  beautiful;  extraordinary 
she  surely  was.  De  Neuville,  a  diplomatic  agent  sent 
to  Moscow  by  the  Marquis  de  Bethune,  the  French  am- 
bassador in  Poland,  wrote  of  Sophia  in  1689:  "Her 
mind  and  her  great  ability  bear  no  relation  to  the  de- 
formity of  her  person,  as  she  is  immensibly  fat,  with 
a  head  as  large  as  a  bushel,  hairs  on  her  face  and  tumors 
on  her  legs,  and  at  least  forty  years  old  (she  was  born 


174      COURT  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

in  1657,  Edit.).  But  in  the  same  degree  that  her  stature 
is  broad,  short  and  coarse,  her  mind  is  shrewd,  un- 
prejudiced and  full  of  policy. —  She  is  as  acute,  subtle, 
and  shrewd  in  mind  as  she  is  broad,  short  and  coarse  in 
person.  And  though  she  has  never  read  Machiavelli,  nor 
learned  anything  about  him,  all  his  maxims  come  nat- 
urally to  her." 

SouvARow  (SuvARov). —  The  cleric  Souvarow,  men- 
tioned by  the  Diarist,  was  attached  to  one  of  the  churches 
in  the  Kremlin  and  was  the  grandfather  of  the  famous 
Marshal.  His  son  Basil  entered  the  army  as  a  common 
soldier,  rose  to  be  an  officer,  and,  subsequently  to  the 
rank  of  a  General.  The  son  of  this  general,  the  later 
field-marshal  and  prince  Souvarow,  was  born  in   1729. 

SzEREMETOw  (Sheremetev),  Boris. —  A  friend  of 
Peter  and  later  one  of  his  field-marshals  through  whom 
he  met  the  girl  Martha,  who  became  his  second  wife  and 
reigned  as  Catherine  I.  after  Peter's  death  until  her  own 
in  1727. 

Tolstoy,  Peter  Andreevicz. —  First  a  supporter  of 
Sophia,  then  one  of  Peter  and  one  of  his  most  skillful 
and  unscrupulous  tools.  As  Russian  ambassador  to  the 
Porte  he  brought  about  the  strangulation  of  a  grand 
vizier  and  the  removal  by  poison  of  a  secretary.  In 
1717  he  succeeded  in  bringing  back  the  Czarewicz  Alexis 
from  Naples.  Immediately  after  the  death  of  Catherine 
I.  he  was  banished  to  a  convent  where  he  died  soon  after- 
ward. 


THE    END 


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